DT: Friends and Foes
by Crystal Mizuka
Summary: The Sequel to The Dragon Tamer. New adventures, the same old insanity. Mostly Inuyasha & Ranma 1/2.
1. Midnight Dragon Burst

Disclaimer: All Anime Characters and concepts are the property of their respective creators. The same is true of any references that might be applied in this fanfiction. This is strictly a work of fanfiction and is by no means meant to be taken literally.  
  
Spoiler Warning: This fanfiction will definately include spoilers of events and characters that appear later on in these Anime Titles. Technically these characters have already appeared, they just haven't appeared in the English version of the series.  
  
Author's Note: This is an Anime Multiverse fanfiction, meaning that any number of Anime Titles could appear during the course of the series. The primary Anime Titles that will be involved are Inu-Yasha, Ranma 1/2 and Tenchi Muyo. Another Anime Title that will hold some ground on this series is Digimon Adventure, although none of the actual characters will be involved, there will be events and monsters that do relate to the series. When other titles will become involved, there will be an author's note announcing it at the beginning of the chapter that it will be involved in.  
  
Author's Note2: While this will be the second season of The Dragon Tamer series, it does not directly follow what has happened so far. The reason for this is simply that I wanted to add in a few things that I had not planned on in the beginning and now was the ideal time to put them into place. It works almost like an alternate universe, in the sense that everything that did happen happened, it just probably ended up happening in a different, less silly way. First time readers should be able to follow the events that happen now without reading the first series.  
  
------Original Characters------  
  
Crystal Mizuka is your not-so-typical, 16-year-old, half-human, martial artist, magician and high school student. As our story begins, Crystal has been rid of the Dragon's Curse for about two months and she is back in school again, strongly believing that with the curse gone she has become a normal human. If this were true, there wouldn't be much purpose to the series. The character of Crystal is a creation of my own insane mind.  
  
Shiva is your not-so-typical martial artist and free-loading houseguest. He is noted for being part human, part Jurain and part Divine all in one. He has frequently invited himself to live in Crystal's apartment, which for the most part remains empty. One of his most famous moments was the time when Crystal hurled a refridgerator at him, which he dodged, leading to the door to the apartment being permenantly removed and the refridgerator being lodged in the hallway wall. Shiva repaired the refridgerator and it has since remained in the hallway. Remarkably, the other people in the apartment complex stay as far away from the area as possible. Beyond this, Shiva's noted traits are that he is always hungry, unless being fed or having just eaten, eating vast quantities of food in a short amount of time and his sub-space picnic basket. The character of Shiva belongs to Shiva.  
  
------The Key------  
  
"......" -speaking ~......~ -thinking **......** -exagerated noises/actions {......} -telepathy [......] -author's notes  
  
------Midnight Dragon Burst------  
  
It was a typical morning at the Tendo Dojo. Ranma had been training with his father, who was now a panda in the backyard and now it was time for breakfast. The only reason Ranma was still at the house was because Akane wasn't the one who made breakfast, although there was still the small matter of lunch. Ranma would deal with that problem later.  
  
The usual morning routine followed as always. Ranma and Panda-san started randomly snatching food from each others plates, and everyone elses for that matter which resulted in a great deal of shouting around the table and a glass of water spilling on Ranma.  
  
"Gah!" exclaimed Ranma-chan as she felt the cold water land on her. This was not a good way to start the first day of school, yet again.  
  
[Due to the miracle of anime and cartoons in general, no one seems to have aged in the least.]  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
A short time later, more of the usual events were still happening. Ranma- kun was running along the usual fence, with Akane running on the path bellow him. Obviously, both of them were attempting to make it to school on time.  
  
As they arrived at Furinkan, Tatewaki "Blue Thunder" Kuno was at the front gates to greet them. It was more along the lines of waiting to challenge Ranma for Akane and the Pigtailed Girl, but he promptly got booted in small orbit over the school building. Ranma and Akane hurried off to class before Kuno had a chance to recover, or worse, it started raining.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
As Ranma and Akane finally made it to the safety of their homeroom class, regardless of the fact that it was also the class of Hinako-sensei, Ranma was greeted by a familiar voice.  
  
"Hiya Ran-chan," called Ukyo from the other side of the room.  
  
Crystal happened to be with Ukyo. She was dressed in her typical black pants and black tanktop, complete with the hilt of her sword [Dragon Blade] poking over her left shoulder. Her long, dirty blond hair was tied back in a ponytail. Obviously it had gotten longer while she was away, and she appeared to be making a mental note to get it cut back to normal.  
  
"Yo Ucchan," replied Ranma, making his way across the room to meet with his childhood friend. He ignored the crimson aura that was starting to form around Akane, who in turn chose to ignore him completely and went off to join her friends.  
  
Around the room, friends were explaining the events of their summers in great detail. Most of them were exagerating what had happened of course, but they told the stories and their friends listened anyway.  
  
Ukyo handed Ranma a take-out box of okonomiyaki, having assumed Akane would do something like make lunch on the first day back to school. Ranma looked happy about this, accepting the okonomiyaki and tossing the so-called "food" that Akane had made him across the room into the trash can.  
  
**CRACK**  
  
A split second later, a certain mallet in the hands of a very pissed off Akane slammed over Ranma's head. Ranma hit the floor with swirls for eyes and a lump forming on the back of his head in the typical Ranma pose, twitching. The mallet left Akane's hands and she returned to chatting with her friends as though nothing had happened.  
  
School began and it seemed like a relatively normal day, if not a little more peaceful than usual.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
At the end of school, that peacefulness still lingered. Ranma, Akane, Ukyo and Crystal were all leaving the school together, headed in the general direction of Ucchan's Okonomiyaki. That was until a strong gust of wind came from the distance and Crystal was suddenly knocked to the ground as Shiva glomped her.  
  
"What in the?! Shiva?!" exclaimed Crystal.  
  
Crystal regained her grounds on the situation, after having been winded by the sudden combination of gravity pulling her downward and the added weight of Shiva glomping her. Wait a second, he was glomping her?  
  
**WHAM**  
  
A large phonebook crashed over Shiva's head as Crystal shouted, "Get off of me!"  
  
Shiva was not harmed by the phonebook, but he obeyed Crystal's demand to be released from his glomp. Once he was up, he offered her a hand. She accepted it, although she was glaring daggers at him.  
  
Shiva asked, "Why didn't you tell me you were back in town?"  
  
Crystal's glare was replaced by a look of confusion and surprise, "First of all you weren't at my apartment last night when I got home or this morning for that matter, so I couldn't have told you if I had wanted to."  
  
"You didn't want me to know?" pouted Shiva.  
  
Crystal continued, choosing to ignore Shiva's interuption, "Secondly, I figured you'd know I'd come back as soon as school started."  
  
"I guess that makes sense," replied Shiva with a nod.  
  
Ukyo was edging away from the scene, not wanting Shiva's eating habits to put her out of business. Ranma noticed this and glanced to Crystal. Crystal nodded.  
  
Shiva seemed to catch onto this, "You're going to get a bite to eat at Ucchan's? I'll come with you!"  
  
Crystal grabbed Shiva by the arm and started dragging him in another direction, towards the Neko-Hanten, "I could go for some ramen, why don't you come with me and let you in on what I've been doing for the last two months?"  
  
"You don't mind?" asked Shiva.  
  
Crystal replied, "Not at all. I might even agree to a sparring match later."  
  
"Really?!" exclaimed Shiva, his mood brightening.  
  
"Maybe," replied Crystal.  
  
Shiva chose to take that as a yes and made a loud cheering noise that couldn't quite be put into human words. At least he didn't notice the fact that Ranma, Ukyo and Akane were leaving while he wasn't looking. Ranma mouthed something along the lines of 'I owe ya one' to Crystal as they slipped out of sight.  
  
Shiva was dragging Crystal by this point, "Let's go!"  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Inuyasha and Kagome were sitting at a table inside of the Neko-Hanten. There were quite a few bowls of ramen in front of Inuyasha and it appeared that he kept ordering more before he actually finished any.  
  
Shiva dragged Crystal inside and to the usual table. He didn't bother asking for anything, Shampoo saw him and headed off to report that Shiva was in the building.  
  
"Would you control yourself?" asked Crystal.  
  
Shiva blinked at her, "Why should I do that?"  
  
"People were staring!" exclaimed Crystal.  
  
"So?" asked Shiva.  
  
Crystal sighed, "Nevermind."  
  
Shampoo returned with several bowls of ramen, "Here you go."  
  
~How is my budget ever going to survive Shiva's company?~ Crystal wondered.  
  
Shampoo left to serve other customers. Shiva totally ignored the ramen that had been placed on the table in front of him and lunged at the table that happened to be next to him and Crystal, heading right for Inuyasha's assortment of ramen bowls.  
  
**WHAM**  
  
A stack of phonebooks crashed down on Shiva, knocking him down to the floor.  
  
"Your ramen is on this table," said Crystal indicating the ramen that Shampoo had just set down.  
  
Shiva pouted, "But I want that ramen."  
  
"It isn't yours," said Crystal.  
  
Kagome blinked, "That girl looks familiar."  
  
"Smells familiar too," said Inuyasha after another mouthful of ramen. "I'll kill her companion if he goes after my ramen again."  
  
On cue, Shiva recovered from the pile of phonebooks that had landed on him and made another dive for the ramen.  
  
**CRASH**  
  
This time an entire phonebooth crashed down on Shiva. Crystal was on her feet, glaring at Shiva.  
  
~That must be her version of "sit"~ thought Inuyasha wincing.  
  
"Sorry about my friend here, he's a little impulsive when it comes to food," said Crystal.  
  
Kagome said, "He isn't the only one."  
  
"What is that supposed to mean?!" demanded Inuyasha.  
  
Kagome ignored him, "Where did that phonebooth come from?"  
  
"Beats me," replied Crystal.  
  
"What is a phonebooth?" asked Inuyasha.  
  
Kagome pointed at the thing that had fallen on Shiva, "That."  
  
Inuyasha blinked. The phonebooth along with the assortment of phonebooks vanished into thin air and Shiva rose to his feet, giving Crystal a pitiful, hurt look that would have made a normal girl melt, but it had no such effect on Crystal. She simply glared at him.  
  
"Why can't I have the ramen?" asked Shiva.  
  
Crystal continued to glare at him, "That isn't your ramen! Your ramen is there!" She pointed to the other table again.  
  
Shiva sat down and started eating.  
  
"Seriously," muttered Crystal about to take her seat again.  
  
"You're that dragon-girl that beat the blue phoenix demon!" exclaimed Inuyasha suddenly. "I knew I recognized that scent...but what happened to the dragon part?"  
  
"Long story," replied Crystal.  
  
Kagome blinked as recognition dawned on her, "I knew it was you!"  
  
"The name is Crystal actually," noted Crystal.  
  
"That's right, we didn't get to introduce ourselves the last time we met. I'm Kagome," said Kagome. "And the dog-boy is Inuyasha."  
  
Inuyasha shrugged and returned to eating his ramen.  
  
Shiva finished his ramen, "Say Crystal, when are we going to have our sparring match?"  
  
"I guess now is good...we can have it at the vacant lot," replied Crystal.  
  
Inuyasha stopped eating and asked, "What's a sparring match?"  
  
"It's a sort of fake fight that martial artists have," answered Kagome.  
  
"What is a martial artist?" asked Inuyasha.  
  
"An unnaturally strong mortal," replied Kagome.  
  
Inuyasha asked, "Can we watch?"  
  
Shiva replied, "If you want to, although I imagine it will be boring since Crystal can't become a dragon anymore."  
  
Crystal growled, "Just cause I don't transform doesn't mean I can't fight properly! I've been training, you know!"  
  
"So that's what you were doing?" asked Shiva.  
  
Crystal nodded, "Well, if I was going to be a normal human I decided I'd probably have to train to bring my strength back up to where it had been before that whole Skull-Dragon incident."  
  
~She definately doesn't smell like a normal human~ thought Inuyasha. ~This could be interesting.~  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
About a half hour later, the odd group arrived at the vacant lot.  
  
"We don't usually have an audience when we spar, but that shouldn't make it any different," said Crystal.  
  
Shiva grinned, "It should make it more memorable though."  
  
Inuyasha jumped up onto the wall and sat down with his arms crossed in front of him. Kagome stood at the entrance to the vacant lot, not wanting to get too close to the sparring match.  
  
The match opened with a standard fist fight. It was standard in every sense, except that Crystal and Shiva never landed a punch or kick that wasn't blocked by the other. It was also different in the sense that both Crystal and Shiva were moving at Amaguriken speed which made them rather difficult for Kagome to watch, although Inuyasha could see the whole thing clearly.  
  
"Just as fast as ever I see," said Shiva. "So are we going to fight for real or do I have force those new special attacks out of you?"  
  
Crystal dodged several more punches, "If I don't have to use my special attacks, then I avoid using them."  
  
Shiva grinned, "I was hoping you would say that."  
  
The exchange of blows stopped abruptly as Crystal and Shiva stood on opposite sides of the vacant lot, still reasonably close to the center.  
  
"I developed this one just for you," said Shiva.  
  
Crystal shrugged as she watched Shiva cup his hands. He was radiating a heavy energy pattern while also radiating an insanely confident one, which reminded Crystal of the Mokou Takabisha and the Shishi Houkoudan, but they were being radiated at the same time.  
  
At the same time, Crystal was preparing a counter-blast. An electric blue aura surrounded her arm.  
  
Inuyasha continued to watch the "sparring match" with growing interest. Both of these so-called humans fought like demons as far as he was concerned. Perhaps martial artist was just the name of some kind of demon. It didn't matter, the both of them were putting on an interesting show.  
  
Shiva shouted the attack, "Shishi Takabisha Houkou-dan!" and unleashed two blasts, one filled with sadness and the other filled with confidence. The two blasts combined into one huge blast that was headed for Crystal.  
  
[Pride of the Lion's Roar Projectile]  
  
Crystal thrust the fist of her glowing arm forward causing a blast in the form of a serpentine blue dragon, surrounded by electricity to rush from her arm, "Gozen Reiji Ryuurensha!"  
  
[Midnight Dragon Burst]  
  
The dragon blast rushed forward and intercepted Shiva's blast by crashing into it. There was a massive explosion of light and smoke as the two blasts collided, creating a shockwave across the battlefield. Crystal and Shiva were thrown into opposite walls by this shockwave.  
  
When the smoke cleared, both warriors looked a bit roughed up, but they didn't appear to be injured.  
  
"I think that's enough," said Crystal.  
  
Shiva shrugged, "It was a good work-out I guess."  
  
Kagome raised an eyebrow, "He calls that a work-out?"  
  
"He used to call nearly being ripped to shreads by my dragon form a sparring match," replied Crystal.  
  
Inuyasha fell down from the wall at that statement.  
  
Shiva blinked, "What?"  
  
Inuyasha said, "When she attacked that blue phoenix demon as a dragon, there was nothing left in the end! There is no way a human could survive that!"  
  
"It was fun really," said Shiva.  
  
Inuyasha facevaulted.  
  
Crystal shrugged, "I might not become a dragon anymore, but I can still fight."  
  
"That was almost as good as a match against your old dragon form, but I guess it was a bit safer than I would have liked," said Shiva.  
  
Crystal sighed, "You'll never change."  
  
"Is that a bad thing?" asked Shiva.  
  
Crystal shrugged, "It all depends on if it gets your killed or not."  
  
"Does this mean I can still stay in your apartment?" asked Shiva.  
  
"If I can find it," replied Crystal.  
  
Kagome asked, "Find it?"  
  
"It has a way of eluding me when I'm trying to find it," replied Crystal.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
Crystal and Shiva finally arrived back at the apartment in the middle of the night.  
  
"What I can't understand is why I couldn't find it either," said Shiva as they stumbled through the doorless doorway.  
  
Crystal asked, "How do you usually find it?"  
  
"I trace your aura to it..." Shiva trailed off.  
  
"I thought as much," said Crystal.  
  
Shiva sprawled out on the couch, "Can't talk now...sleeping..."  
  
Crystal sweatdropped before heading down the hallway to her bedroom, "It has been a long day..."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
To Be Continued... 


	2. No Questions Please

Disclaimer: All Anime Characters and concepts are the property of their respective creators. The same is true of any references that might be applied in this fanfiction. This is strictly a work of fanfiction and is by no means meant to be taken literally.  
  
Spoiler Warning: This fanfiction will definately include spoilers of events and characters that appear later on in these Anime Titles. Technically these characters have already appeared, they just haven't appeared in the English version of the series.  
  
------No Questions Please------  
  
"Crystal, why are you putting so much clothes in your backpack?" asked Shiva watching Crystal get ready for school, at least that's what he thought she was doing.  
  
"I know the weather is unpredictable at Furinkan, but even rain doesn't require that much clothing Crystal!"  
  
"Are you listening to me?!"  
  
Crystal wasn't listening to Shiva. She was too busy packing her backpack. In fact, she had been doing that for the last half hour. She had gotten a phonecall and had instantly started packing stuff afterwards and she still hadn't told Shiva why.  
  
She had put in what looked like several dozen sets of clothing, which consisted of lots of black pants and black tank-tops. She had put in an oddball assortment of snack foods. She had put in some cooking equipment along with some semi-normal food. She had put in a sleeping bag and a pillow. In fact she had put in a lot of things and none of it seemed to have anything to do with school.  
  
It looked like Crystal was going on a camping trip.  
  
"Crystal, where are you going?!" demanded Shiva.  
  
Crystal zipped up the backpack. It was a remarkably small, navy-blue backpack that she had aquired from Washu and she had definately put it to good use with the way she was packing it today. She finally looked over at Shiva.  
  
"Well, Kagome want to test the possibility that I can travel into the Feudal Era through the well at her house and well, if it works I might not be coming back for a few days," replied Crystal.  
  
Shiva asked, "What about school?"  
  
"This could prove to be more important," replied Crystal.  
  
Shiva's eyes brigthened. Crystal flinched.  
  
"Can I come with you?"  
  
Crystal shrugged, "Why not? If we can both get through the well it might be interesting to do some training in the Feudal Era."  
  
Shiva cheered. Crystal shuddered.  
  
Shiva went into a similar packing frenzy, only it involved a sub-space picnic basket and about four times as much food.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
Crystal and Shiva finally arrived at the Higurashi Shrine, which took a little while since Shiva insisted on stopping for breakfast twice, and then a third time for brunch. Kagome and Inuyasha were waiting for them near a smaller building that looked strangely familiar to Crystal.  
  
*~*~*~* Flashback *~*~*~*  
  
Crystal hadn't been on a regular day and night schedule for the last week, but she assumed it would be a good idea to find a safe place to spend the night. That was when she saw the strange building in the distance, nevermind the fact that there were obviously other buildings around it [which for the purposes of this flashback she didn't notice.] She found that the door was open and being who she is, slipped inside. This seemed like a nice safe place, if you ignored the fact that there was an obviously suspicious well in the middle of the room. Crystal's curiousity got the better of her and she walked over to it.  
  
A strong gust of wind blew and Crystal was sent sprawling downward.  
  
*~*~*~* Present *~*~*~*  
  
"I have a strange feeling I've been here before," muttered Crystal.  
  
Shiva asked, "What makes you say that?"  
  
"I don't know, I just have a feeling," replied Crystal.  
  
"A martial artist is not a kind of demon!" exclaimed Kagome for the third time.  
  
Inuyasha said, "Well the two martial artists have arrived."  
  
Crystal sweatdropped. Shiva's stomach growled.  
  
Kagome waved the group into the building, "If you'll all step this way, we can get on with the experiment."  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
A few minutes later all four of them had managed to get to the Feudal Era. Crystal instantly recognized the tree she had fallen asleep in the last time she had been there. Kagome and Inuyasha headed off in one direction and just to be safe Crystal decided to follow.  
  
"When do we eat lunch?" asked Shiva.  
  
Crystal facevaulted.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
"I'm afraid I was knocked out before I could get your answer the last time you were here," said Miroku who was clasping Crystal's hands, "but will you bear my child?"  
  
A vein became visible on Crystal's forehead, followed by a phonebook appearing in the air above Miroku's head. Crystal was about to make the phonebook drop when Shiva shoved her out of the way and whipped out a notebook along with a pen. He was acting like this was some kind of interview.  
  
"Does that ever work?" asked Shiva.  
  
Miroku replied, "If I keep saying it, it might."  
  
Crystal had forgotten about being shoved and ended up sitting on the ground. The phonebook she had summoned, disappeared.  
  
"Well Shiva, it looks like you've made a new friend," said Crystal getting to her feet.  
  
Sango was talking to Kagome.  
  
"So, both of them were able to come through the well?"  
  
"They didn't have any trouble with it."  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
A short time later the group was walking through the forest. Shiva's stomach growled, so the group stopped for lunch.  
  
"I think he eats more than Inuyasha," noted Shippo.  
  
Inuyasha growled, "And it would help if his hands would stay on his own food!"  
  
Crystal was the only one who hadn't lost any food to Shiva, because she understood the training concept that Shiva was using and she was not going to fall for it when she could just as easily keep her food away from him.  
  
Shiva made the ultimate mistake, he took Inuyasha's instant ramen.  
  
The two of them ended up rolling around on the ground in dust cloud, fighting over the ramen while trying not to spill it.  
  
The others took this chance to eat what they wanted without it being stolen away from them.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
The group was walking through the forest again. Shiva's stomach was quiet so the group kept on walking through the forest.  
  
"So, exactly what sort of demon IS a martial artist?" asked Inuyasha.  
  
Crystal sighed, "Shiva and I are not demons, although it is questionable what kind of creature lives in Shiva's stomach. I for one am definately human."  
  
"You don't smell like a human," said Inuyasha.  
  
Shiva shrugged, "She smells like Crystal to me."  
  
"Shiva on the other hand, could be anything," said Crystal with a sweatdrop forming.  
  
This conversation might have gone on longer if not for the loud roar that suddenly echoed through the forest. Whatever the source of this roar was, it was ahead of them.  
  
Inuyasha and Crystal rushed forward into the face of danger looking serious. Shiva rushed forward into the face of danger with an expression that indicated he thought this would be fun.  
  
"That one is obviously crazy," said Sango.  
  
Miroku said, "It isn't crazy to enjoy life."  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
The source of the roar was not a pleasant sight to behold. It looked something like Motaro from Mortal Kombat Trilogy, and even that was pushing it a bit. It was definately a Centaurian of some sort, it just had a reptilian, humanoid torso instead of being the typical half-man, half- horse. It had a dragonic face and it had spikes sticking out of its elbows. It had a scorpion-like tail with large curved blade at the end that made it even more dangerous looking. It was also covered in dragonic scales. Needless to say, this was no the sort of creature you wanted to meet in a dark alley way in the middle of the night. The twin-bladed axe it was holding in its large, scaley hands did not make the creepiness factor any less intense.  
  
"What is it?" Shiva wondered aloud. He was obviously not fazed by the odd appearence of the monster before him.  
  
Crystal gawked at the Centaurian creature, "......"  
  
"Who cares what it is, it might have a Shikon Fragment!" exclaimed Inuyasha drawing the Tetsusaiga, causing it to transform.  
  
Crystal snapped out of it and drew her sword [Dragon Blade] which was still strapped around her waist because of the backpack she was carrying around.  
  
Shiva took up a fighting stance facing the Centaurian creature, "You can go first."  
  
The Centaurian creature swung its massive battle axe at Shiva's head. The blade of the axe fell harmlessly to the ground as Crystal sliced it away from the wooden rod it had been attached to. Inuyasha attempted to slice the Centaurian creature's other arm off with the Tetsusaiga. This blow was deflected by the Centaurian creature's scaled skin.  
  
Crystal decided that if the giant sword that Inuyasha was using couldn't hurt the Centaurian creature, the Dragon Blade probably wouldn't do much good either. She sheathed it and took up a fighting stance beside Shiva.  
  
"What's the plan?"  
  
"We're supposed to have a plan?"  
  
The Centaurian creature seemed to chuckle a very reptilian chuckle. He threw a well aimed punch at Crystal with unreal speed, sending her flying several meters and then sliding across the ground for a short distance before stopping. The next punch was aimed at Shiva.  
  
Shiva dodged the punch skillfully and jumped up onto the Centaurian creature's back. He threw a punch at the back of the creature's head and started shaking his hand violently as he realized just how bad an idea that had been.  
  
"What the hell is your skin made of?!" demanded Shiva.  
  
The creature roared again and drove its elbow into Shiva's gut, sending him flying in much the same way that it had already gotten rid of Crystal.  
  
Inuyasha made another strike with the Tetsusaiga, which was deflected easily by the Centaurian creatures scaled flesh.  
  
There was a flash of silver light near the Centaurian creature's arm as Crystal's voice shouted, "Tsume Gin!" The arm was suddenly sliced clean off from the shoulder down. It collapsed to the ground in a sizzling heap as Crystal landed in front of the Centaurian creature.  
  
[Claws of Silver]  
  
She was definately Crystal, aside from the fact that she now had pointed ears and razor sharp claws on each of her fingers.  
  
"Swords might not hurt you, but apparently your scales were no match for my claws," stated Crystal. "Admittedly, I haven't a clue where they came from, but I've learned not to question good luck when I see it."  
  
The Centaurian creature let out a strangled growl of rage and pain.  
  
Inuyasha had gotten the message, put the Tetsusaiga away and quickly reduced the Centaurian creature to nothing with a quick slash of his claws and a shout of, "Sankon Tessou!"  
  
[Soul Shattering Iron Claw, Exorcising Claws of Steel, Iron Reaver Soul Stealer]  
  
Crystal returned to normal and retrieved Shiva. She was acting as though that little transformation hadn't happened.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
"There definately wasn't a Shikon Fragment and the demon turned out to be a real weakling," concluded Inuyasha.  
  
Crystal and Shiva shouted, "You never got hit by it!"  
  
Miroku asked, "What I don't understand is why there were three sources of Youki coming from that battlefield."  
  
[demonic energy]  
  
Inuyasha replied, "That's an easy one for me to answer, the third source was the dragon-girl."  
  
"We went over this last time, my name is Crystal and I am a human," stated Crystal. "That whole claws thing was just a lucky break on my part."  
  
Sango asked, "She had claws?"  
  
"Come to think of it, she had pointy ears too," said Shiva.  
  
Crystal sweatdropped, "Don't tell me you're going along with Inuyasha's idea that I could be a demon..."  
  
"You say it all the time yourself, anything is possible," replied Shiva.  
  
Crystal shrugged, "Alright, so maybe even after the Dragon's Curse was removed from me I remained only half-human. That doesn't mean I am a demon."  
  
"No, that would make you a Hanyou," said Shippo.  
  
[half-demon]  
  
Crystal sighed, "I think I'm going to have to go to Washu for a DNA test on this one..."  
  
"What is a DNA test?" asked Shippo.  
  
"What's wrong with that?" asked Shiva.  
  
Crystal sighed, "I don't like blood tests..."  
  
"What is a blood test?" asked Shippo.  
  
"So there is something you're afraid of?" asked Shiva.  
  
"That isn't what I said," replied Crystal.  
  
Shiva shrugged, "I wouldn't mind getting back to our time anyway. I could do with a training trip...that fight with that monster proved that I've been taking it too easy."  
  
"So I guess this means that the dragon-girl and Shiva are going back?" asked Inuyasha.  
  
Crystal growled, "My name is Crystal! I am not a dragon!"  
  
"No, you're The Dragon Tamer," said Shiva.  
  
"You aren't helping!" exclaimed Crystal.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
"Those two definately were interesting to have around," said Miroku.  
  
Shippo said, "You're just glad that Shiva character never hit you or called you a pervert."  
  
"Didn't he say he was a monk too?" asked Sango.  
  
"I think he did," replied Kagome.  
  
"I don't mind that he eats too much, but why does he have to eat other people's food?" asked Inuyasha.  
  
Kagome said, "That's something you'll have to ask either him or Crystal."  
  
"I doubt we've seen the last of them," said Inuyasha.  
  
Miroku nodded, "I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to come back."  
  
"Shiva better not touch my ramen again!" stated Inuyasha.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Crystal slipped into her apartment. It was late into the night and she was alone. Shiva had gone away on his training trip, taking his subspace picnic basket with him. She concluded that she had definately packed too much, considering the fact she hadn't even stayed in the Feudal Era for an entire day.  
  
She unpacked her backpack and set it aside. She would put her school things back into it in the morning. She slipped down the hallway and into her room.  
  
"I guess I'll visit Washu after school tomorrow," sighed Crystal. "I just wonder what I'll do if one of them was actually right."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
To Be Continued... 


	3. With New Characters and Old Rivals

Disclaimer: All Anime Characters and concepts are the property of their respective creators. The same is true of any references that might be applied in this fanfiction. This is strictly a work of fanfiction and is by no means meant to be taken literally.  
  
Spoiler Warning: This fanfiction will definately include spoilers of events and characters that appear later on in these Anime Titles. Technically these characters have already appeared, they just haven't appeared in the English version of the series.  
  
------Original Characters------  
  
Lip is your typical, arrogant warrior. He is noted for being part Saiya- jin, part Jurain and part demon all in one. This is rather interesting in itself, because this fanfiction series is not actually Dragon Ball Z based. If you see him, there will always be a small, 3" golden dragon on his shoulder. This little dragon can do basically anything Lip might ask him to do. Lip basically sees Shiva as his rival, and under normal conditions will always insist on fighting him. The character of Lip belongs to my brother, who demanded a role in this series and since I'd rather live, I agreed.  
  
------With New Characters and Old Rivals------  
  
It was another ordinary day in Nerima. The students were in class at Furinkan and it was raining outside. Ranma was dreading the end of the day because he had forgotten to bring an umbrella as usual. This also accounted as to why he was staring out the window instead of paying attention to what was going on in the classroom.  
  
There were two noticeable things about the front of the room. One of these things was a decorative tree in the doorway. The other was a new student.  
  
This was not your typical, everyday new student. She was roughly 4'9" and looked like she couldn't possibly be more than 14 years old. She had long spiky, black hair with lots of silver and gold streaks going through it. Her eyes were an emerald green color and she seemed to give off an aura of pure mysteriousness. She was dressed in baggy, black pants and a black t- shirt that had intersecting silver and gold lightning bolts on the back and front.  
  
Ranma finally looked to the front of the room. He wasn't the only one that was staring at the new girl in shock. This sense of shock in the classroom doubled when the girl wrote her name on the board and turned around to introduce herself.  
  
"I am Reiya Mizuka. It is a pleasure to meet all of you," said the girl introducing herself.  
  
Crystal fell out of her desk and landed on the floor. She made no attempt to return to her seat. She simply stared and blinked at the front of the room, which was from her point of view, was completely upside-down.  
  
Hinako-sensei pointed to the empty desk that was conveniently located next to Crystal's fallen form, "Your seat will be next to Crystal."  
  
There was a brief silence as Reiya started to her desk.  
  
"Crystal, get up."  
  
Crystal obeyed reluctantly, having been getting well aquainted with the floor. She slumped down in her desk and started going over every logical explanation for how this was even possible. She wasn't having any luck, so she started paying attention to the lesson that she was supposed to be working on.  
  
"Charge!" shouted the decorative tree as it rushed at Ranma, aiming to tackle him out of his desk.  
  
Ranma, reflexively, jumped out of the way before the tree could touch him. What appeared to be a teenage girl jumped out of the wrecked tree and glared at Ranma.  
  
"Tsubasa! What the hell are you doing here?!" exclaimed Ukyo recognizing the cross-dresser that had a tendency to pop out of inanimate objects trying to win her affection away from Ranma.  
  
"I've come for you of course, my darling Ukyo," replied Tsubasa with stars in his eyes. He returned to glaring at Ranma.  
  
Ranma sweatdropped. Ukyo removed the baker's peel from her back and sent Tsubasa flying out the window.  
  
"I already told you it is over!" shouted Ukyo after the flying form of Tsubasa.  
  
Hinako-sensei would have done some aura draining, except for the obvious fact that Ukyo had just gotten rid of the disruption. Instead, Ranma and Ukyo were both sent into the hall.  
  
{Don't worry Crystal, this will all make sense eventually} said a voice in Crystal's head. The voice belonged to Reiya.  
  
**Thud**  
  
"Crystal, stand in the hall!"  
  
Crystal obeyed the command and joined Ranma and Ukyo out in the hallway. She was still in shock from the little voice in her head that sounded an aweful lot like Reiya. She must have been hearing things or something. Yeah, that made sense. She was just having a mental breakdown. It wasn't like this was a big deal or anything.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
"That sure was strange," noted Ukyo as she was headed off to her restraunt followed by Ranma, Akane and Crystal.  
  
Crystal had been quiet since the Reiya incident and she was still being just that. Reiya had vanished as soon as school ended and no one had seen where she had gone off to.  
  
Ranma nodded, "I can't believe Tsubasa showed up again. I thought he was passed this nonsense."  
  
"I guess he still wants Ukyo to love him," said Akane.  
  
"I have more than enough to deal with having Ran-chan as my fiance," replied Ukyo.  
  
Ranma considered finding a safe place to hide before world war three started. He wasn't fast enough.  
  
"Ranma belong Shampoo!" shouted the familiar voice of the purple-haired Amazon.  
  
"Hohohohoho!" came the evil laugh of Kodachi "The Black Rose" Kuno appearing from another random direction. "Ranma-sama will be mine!"  
  
Akane, Ukyo, Shampoo and Kodachi all started fighting each other.  
  
"I better leave before they decide who gets to go on a date with me," Ranma thought aloud.  
  
He made his move to leave, but was stopped short by the blade of a familiar bokken appearing in his face.  
  
"Hold enslaver of women, for I the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High School have come to punish you," stated Tatewaki Kuno.  
  
Ranma sighed, "I should have guessed..."  
  
"Saotome! How dare you get my precious Shampoo mixed up in this!" exclaimed Mousse. He was yelling at a trash can, but he was close enough that Ranma actually heard him.  
  
Crystal thought ~And this is my cue to get out of here!~ She bolted for the nearest escape path and ran for everything she was worth.  
  
As Kuno and Mousse began pummeling Ranma, one thought went through his mind as he defended himself ~Where's Ryoga?~  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Where am I?" asked Ryoga to no one in particular.  
  
The eternally lost boy was at a port city somewhere along the coast of Japan. He happened to walk right onto a departing ship, ended up getting splashed by a random wave which caused him to become the usual small black piglet, and then ended up getting dragged into the kitchen to be turned into sweet and sour pork.  
  
"Bwee!" exclaimed the terrified piglet before becoming human again, thanks to some boiling water.  
  
One of the crew members said, "I guess we won't be having pork for lunch after all."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Crystal was standing beside Washu inside the sub-space lab that was conveniently located in the storage unit, under the staircase of the Masaki House.  
  
"Are the results in or what?" asked Crystal curiously.  
  
Washu replied with a question, "Are you sure you want to know?"  
  
"Of course I want to know, I've wanted to know since I realized I was only half-human," replied Crystal folding her arms in front of her.  
  
Washu said, "Honestly, I got the results in about half an hour. I just had some other projects to work on before I actually got to work on the blood test."  
  
Crystal facevaulted. She jumped back to her feet, "Then what were those results?"  
  
Washu replied, "You're a fully qualified half-human, half-demon otherwise known as a Hanyou. Blood tests don't lie you know."  
  
Crystal was on the floor again.  
  
"You don't have to be surprised," said Washu.  
  
"It isn't that...it's just that I can't believe those people that barely even know me had it figured out before I did," replied Crystal rising to her feet again.  
  
Washu shrugged, "Is that all you wanted?"  
  
"Actually, there is another thing...do I have any living blood relatives?" asked Crystal.  
  
Washu typed a few things onto her keyboard.  
  
"Not according to the current Earth records," replied Washu.  
  
Crystal nodded, "I thought so. Well, I better get going so I can get to my apartment before it's too late for me to focus on my homework."  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
Crystal was crossing Nerima District Park for the third time. She would have kept walking except that she suddenly noticed that something had managed to slip off of her back. She turned around and saw a girl she recognized as Azusa Shiratori of the Golden Pair of Anything-Goes Martial Arts Ice Skating. Azusa was cuddling her backpack, which almost caused her to facevault again, but she remained in control of the situation.  
  
"Jean-Michelle!" exclaimed a very happy sounding Azusa.  
  
Crystal flinched at that, but remained calm. She said in a stern voice, "That is MY backpack."  
  
"She is my Jean-Michelle," replied Azusa hugging the backpack more tightly.  
  
The backpack slipped out of her hands and into those of Mikado Sanzenin, the other member of the Golden Pair. Crystal made a mental note to stay a safe distance away from him.  
  
Mikado handed Crystal her backpack and she took it, putting it back where it belonged on her back. She blinked as it slipped off again. The straps had been cut. She sighed and held it in her hands again.  
  
"My Jean-Michelle!" cried Azusa.  
  
Crystal started walking, "Thanks for returning my backpack and no you cannot have a kiss from me."  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
Crystal sighed once she was out of ear-shot of Azusa's whining. She shuddered, "That girl scares me..."  
  
The sound of a landing helicopter in the distance made her look up. She saw a familiar building ahead of her, it was the building her apartment was in. The helicopter was landing on it.  
  
She continued walking. The helicopter took off a few minutes later.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Meanwhile at a port somewhere in California, Ryoga completed his trip across the ocean.  
  
"That was a long cruise," Ryoga said to himself. "I didn't know there were lakes that big in Japan."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
There was an unusual amount of noise centered around Tofu-sensei's clinic. Everyone who had been involved in the fighting in the afternoon [Ranma, Kuno, Mousse, Akane, Ukyo, Kodachi and Shampoo] was now in need of attention of some kind.  
  
"It all stupid Akane, Rose Girl and Spatula Girl's fault!" exclaimed Shampoo.  
  
Ukyo was already grabbing for her baker's peel again.  
  
"Girls, calm down," said Tofu-sensei. "You don't need to blame anyone."  
  
Ranma was in another room with Mousse and Kuno.  
  
"We all know it was Saotome's fault," stated Mousse.  
  
"You idiots attacked me!" shouted Ranma.  
  
Then a familiar voice came from the entrance of the clinic, "Dr. Tofu, I came to return the book I borrowed."  
  
"AHH!!!" came the screams of frightened teenagers.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Crystal walked down the hallway towards her apartment. The light was on in the doorless doorway. The scent of fresh pizza was in the air. She ignored the refridgerator in the hallway wall and continued towards the doorless doorway, a strange feeling was bothering her.  
  
"What are you doing in my apartment?!" exclaimed Crystal spotting Reiya, the new girl from school.  
  
Reiya shrugged taking a bite of a slice of pizza. There were probably twenty boxes spread out around the living room.  
  
"I figured, since we're cousins, I might as well stay with family," replied Reiya after swallowing the mouthful of pizza.  
  
Crystal raised an eyebrow, but decided it was better not to bring Washu into this equation. She simply nodded an understanding nod that she herself didn't believe.  
  
"Don't worry about it, I won't cause too much trouble," stated Reiya sensing Crystal's tension.  
  
Crystal asked, "Where did you order this pizza from anyway?"  
  
"From New York," replied Reiya. "They have great pizza there."  
  
Crystal raised her eyebrow again, "How did you manage to pay for that?"  
  
"With that plastic card I found in your wallet," replied Reiya with a grin on her face.  
  
Crystal facevaulted.  
  
"The helicopter delivered it," added Reiya cheerfully.  
  
"I'm going to bed," stated Crystal starting down the hallway.  
  
Reiya asked, "Are you alright? It's only 8:00."  
  
"I don't think I'm going to school tomorrow," replied Crystal. "If a strange boy comes here, that's Shiva."  
  
There was a heaving noise as the ceiling caved in and landed on the carpet. Lip was standing in the middle of the living room. Reiya had rescued the pizza boxes that had been there.  
  
"You're Shiva?"  
  
Crystal sweatdropped, "That would be Lip."  
  
"Where's Shiva?!" demanded Lip.  
  
"He's off training, he should be back in about a few weeks," replied Crystal starting down the hallway again. "Go bother someone else."  
  
With that Lip left and Crystal went to her room.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
There were people everywhere. There were roller coasters and lots of other theme park rides around. It was crowded and noisy. Ryoga was standing somewhere in the middle of Six Flags Magic Mountain.  
  
"Where am I now?" asked Ryoga to no one in particular.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
To Be Continued... 


	4. Soul Searching

Disclaimer: All Anime Characters and concepts are the property of their respective creators. The same is true of any references that might be applied in this fanfiction. This is strictly a work of fanfiction and is by no means meant to be taken literally.  
  
Spoiler Warning: This fanfiction will definately include spoilers of events and characters that appear later on in these Anime Titles. Technically these characters have already appeared, they just haven't appeared in the English version of the series.  
  
------Soul Searching------  
  
The usual group, which now consisted of Ranma, Akane, Ukyo, Crystal and Reiya, was headed in the general direction of Furinkan High School. One might have been skeptical of the fact that they were headed in the right direction, because as of yet there was still no sign of the school building. Since none of them was Ryoga however, they still assumed they were going the right way.  
  
"Did Furinkan disappear or something?" Ranma wondered aloud.  
  
"We should be pretty close by now and we should be able to see it, but I still don't see any sign of it," replied Reiya.  
  
Akane said, "Even in Nerima, buildings don't just vanish."  
  
"No, but they are periodically destroyed," noted Ukyo.  
  
As they reached the location where Furinkan normally stood, Nabiki was standing ahead of them. This wasn't that unusual, considering she always left a little early when it came to Akane making lunch. The fact was that where the school building normally stood, there were mangled ruins that had once been the school building.  
  
"Do I want to know what happened?" asked Akane.  
  
Nabiki shrugged, "From what I've gathered, a giant monster appeared and demolished the school sometime this morning."  
  
Ranma raised an eyebrow, "Wait a minute. If there was a "Giant Monster" destroying Furinkan, wouldn't we have at least heard some destruction?"  
  
"Ranma, do you ever hear anything when you're sleeping?" asked Akane.  
  
Ranma facevaulted.  
  
Ukyo said, "Well, if this is the case, then I guess we don't have any school today."  
  
"In that case, I'm heading home for more sleeping hours," stated Reiya walking back in the direction they had been coming from.  
  
Crystal shrugged and leaned back against the trunk of a nearby tree, looking over the ruins of the school building attempting to figure out what kind of monster could have caused the kind of damage she was looking at. While Crystal was doing this, she finally managed to get the thoughts of her genetic history out of her mind for the first time in about three days.  
  
"I've got an idea," stated Ukyo suddenly.  
  
Ranma blinked, "What kind of idea?"  
  
"We can all see a movie," replied Ukyo.  
  
Crystal spoke up finally, "I need to pay a little visit to Washu, but you guys have fun."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Two visits in the same week, to what do I owe this honor?" asked Washu in a joking manor.  
  
Crystal didn't seem to notice this, "I was wondering if you could teleport me to the Feudal Era...I know you teleported me out of there the first time I went, so I know you can get me there safely."  
  
"You need some time to think, is that it?" asked Washu.  
  
Crystal nodded, "Basically. I figure the usual suspects won't be able to come looking for me if I'm in a different era altogether."  
  
Washu agreed, "That's definately true, although Shiva can pass through that well if I remember correctly."  
  
Crystal shrugged, "He's off training and won't be back for several weeks anyway. I should have enough time to think until then."  
  
Washu nodded, "Then you're all set?"  
  
"Well, first I could do with a trip to my apartment to pack some things, but then I'm ready to go," replied Crystal.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
Crystal returned with her sub-space backpack filled with clothing, food and cooking equipment as well as a sleeping bag and a pillow. She was actually traveling relatively light this time around, although she knew she was going to stay a great deal longer.  
  
"I actually have something for you," said Washu as Crystal reappeared.  
  
Crystal blinked, "What sort of something?"  
  
Washu sighed, "I was working on an experiment you see. That is, I was working on it up until Mihoshi suddenly got back from another trip to report to the Galexy Police Headquarters. She somehow got into the lab, which is something I really should start researching and the experiment ended up exploding. The fact is, I was sort of borrowing your gameboy color for the experiment and well--"  
  
"You WHAT?!" exclaimed Crystal before Washu could finish her explanation.  
  
Washu sweatdropped, "Anyway, there was no sign of your gameboy, but I did find this."  
  
She handed Crystal a strangely large white egg with a golden lightning bolt on either side of it. Crystal took it and looked it over a few times.  
  
"Wait a minute, what kind of experiment were you working on?" asked Crystal.  
  
"I was trying to build a transporter that could really put you into the game, provided it didn't blow-up the universe in the process," replied Washu innocently.  
  
Crystal said, "In that case, we might be lucky Mihoshi messed it up."  
  
Crystal looked at the egg again and then looked to Washu, "This is a Pokemon Egg, isn't it?"  
  
Washu sweatdropped again, "Apparently the transporter I was working on teleported something from within your game into the real world, so now it's yours."  
  
Crystal sighed, "Alright then, but next time could you ask before you borrow my things?"  
  
"Fine," replied Washu. "I bet you must be ready to get going to the Feudal Era then?"  
  
Crystal put the egg into her backpack along with the rest of her things and nodded. Washu typed some codes into her keyboard.  
  
**Flash**  
  
Crystal was gone.  
  
There was a knock on the lab door.  
  
"It's open," stated Washu.  
  
Sasami's voice entered the lab, "Washu, lunch is ready!"  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Nabiki, explain again why it was important for me to buy all of the tickets!" demanded Ranma as the group walked out of the movie theater.  
  
Nabiki shrugged, "You are a free-loading house-guest to all of us?"  
  
"She does have a point Ran-chan," agreed Ukyo.  
  
"Definately," agreed Akane.  
  
Ranma blinked, "You two? Why are ya all ganging up on me?!"  
  
"Face it Ranma, you've dug yourself a nice hole that is too hard to crawl out of," replied Nabiki.  
  
"What does that mean?" asked Ranma.  
  
"You try to figure it out," replied Nabiki.  
  
Ranma lost track of his anger in his confusion.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Tenchi asked, "You're spending even more time in that lab of yours these days, what are you so busy working on Washu?"  
  
"Just things," replied Washu.  
  
Ryoko shrugged, "As long as she isn't after Tenchi, I don't care."  
  
"What does that mean Ryoko?!" demanded Ayeka.  
  
"It means Tenchi is mine," replied Ryoko.  
  
"Mreow," said Ryo-Ohki.  
  
Sasami sighed, "Yep, they're fighting again."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Crystal was sitting up in a tree with her backpack hanging from an extra branching that was sticking out of the large one she happened to be sitting on. She was leaning back against the trunk of the tree and looking off into the sky.  
  
She obviously had a lot on her mind and because of that she failed to notice a lot of what was going on around her. She always managed to get like that when she was thinking and it did have a tendency to worry her friends. That was a big part of the reason why she had chosen to do her thinking away from her friends, so she could have the time to think without having to put up with the noise and chaos that came with everyone worrying about her sudden silence.  
  
"If it isn't the dragon-girl back in the Feudal Era," said the familiar voice of Inuyasha.  
  
**Thud**  
  
Crystal hit the ground, being snapped out of her thoughts by surprise and annoyance.  
  
Crystal asked, "How many times to I need to tell you my name is Crystal before you'll actually remember?"  
  
"Don't mind Inuyasha, he's always like that," said Shippo.  
  
**Wham**  
  
"Why'd you hit me Inuyasha?!" demanded Shippo who had a large lump forming on his head.  
  
Inuyasha shrugged, "She wasn't asking you."  
  
"Well, this is better than the Furinkan High incident I suppose...it was pathetic that the entire student body was convinced that I was a boy," noted Crystal. "They believed that for an entire year!"  
  
Kagome blinked, "How is that even possible?"  
  
"There are quite a few really dense people at that school," replied Crystal. "Not to mention the new student who is staying in my apartment, claiming to be my cousin. That isn't possible, considering I have no living relatives."  
  
Miroku said, "Of course, none of this explains what you were doing all by yourself up in that tree."  
  
"Er..." Crystal started. "I just decided to get away from it all and get some time to myself. I got the results of my DNA test back from Washu and I have a lot to think about."  
  
Shippo asked, "Is that another one of those things from that school place Kagome?"  
  
"Not exactly," replied Kagome.  
  
"It doesn't matter," continued Crystal. "I just need to adjust to my new self."  
  
Inuyasha said, "That must mean you finally figured out what your other half is."  
  
"It really isn't that big a deal," replied Crystal jumping back into the tree and putting on her backpack. "It just means I'll have to rethink the way I've thought of myself."  
  
She started off through the trees, jumping skillfully as though she had been doing this all the time.  
  
"Wasn't she more cheerful the last time we saw her?" asked Miroku.  
  
Sango said, "Something must be bothering her."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Nabiki, explain again why we're eating dinner in this expensive cafe? And more importantly why am I paying for it?!" demanded Ranma.  
  
Nabiki replied, "Because I couldn't find Kuno-baby."  
  
"That's all well and good, but why is Reiya eating so much?!" demanded Ranma.  
  
"I have a big appetite," replied Reiya.  
  
Akane and Ukyo couldn't help laughing.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Crystal had settled down under a new tree some distance off. Her backpack was sitting beside her and she was looking off into the sky, which happened to be growing somewhat dark. Then it occured to her that there wouldn't be any moon tonight, which meant it would definately be a dark one.  
  
She wasn't afraid of the dark, it was just that it would be the first time she spent the night in the Feudal Era and she already knew that the chances of being attacked by demons were extremely high.  
  
"Oh well, I'll just worry about that when it happens," Crystal said to herself.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
Once the sun was completely gone from the sky, strange noises started coming from a short distance off in the forest. Crystal was snapped out of her thoughts by these noises, picked up her backpack and started in that direction to investigate.  
  
Crystal was a little surprised to see something that looked like a Minotaur crossed with a tiger and a winged serpent. She was even more surprised to see the usual group that was with Inuyasha trying to ward it off, along with someone who looked surprisingly like Inuyasha with black hair. Several things clicked in Crystal's head at the same time and she understood what was going on.  
  
The creature made a move to attack. Out of pure reflex, Crystal cupped her hands and shouted, "Shishi Houkoudan!" unleashing a powerful burst of her built up depressive energy at the creature. The blast knocked it to the side, into a large row of trees.  
  
[Lion's Roar Projectile]  
  
Miroku said, "Crystal has very good timing."  
  
"She must not have gotten very far," said Sango.  
  
Crystal shrugged, deciding she wanted to finish off this monster as quickly as she could. It was still down, which meant that like the Centaurian creature from before it was relatively weak and wouldn't last through the attack she was preparing for. The electric blue energy was already crackling around her arm. It was obviously more powerful than the one she had used to counter Shiva's attack. She drew the Dragon Blade, which extended the flow of her own energy around the entire length of the sword.  
  
Inuyasha recognized the attack, "It's the same attack, but it seems different somehow."  
  
The energy took on the form of a much larger, serpentine dragon's head surrounded by the crackling electric blue energy. Crystal slashed the Dragon Blade forward, "Gozen Reiji Ryuurensha!" and the dragon blast rushed into the Minotaur monster, exploding on contact with it. The monster was reduced to nothing in seconds.  
  
[Blade of the Midnight Dragon]  
  
Crystal sheathed the Dragon Blade and decided it was safe to relax. She didn't actually relax, but her battle aura faded back into her normal passive aura.  
  
"Looks like it's a good thing I was around," said Crystal.  
  
Inuyasha said, "For your information, I could have handled that thing blindfolded."  
  
"Are you Inuyasha?" asked Crystal.  
  
Inuyasha blinked, "Who else would I be?"  
  
"Well, you do look human at the moment," replied Crystal.  
  
Inuyasha shrugged, "So what if I do? You fight like a demon."  
  
"Yep, you're definately Inuyasha," sweatdropped Crystal.  
  
Shippo asked, "How did you know to come here?"  
  
"Well, I heard the fighting and I got curious," replied Crystal. "It might not seem like it all the time, but I do have pretty good senses."  
  
Inuyasha said, "And the dragon-girl fights like a demon."  
  
Crystal sighed, "And you're a human right now, so don't try to piss me off if you value your life."  
  
"Really? What are you going to do about it dragon-girl?" asked Inuyasha.  
  
**WHAM**  
  
"Ow..." grumbled Inuyasha who was on the ground with a phonebook planted on his head.  
  
"How was that?" asked Crystal.  
  
Inuyasha got up and the phonebook was gone ~That is definately her version of "sit".~  
  
"When you need help, feel free to ask," said Crystal as she turned to leave.  
  
Kagome asked, "What were the results of the DNA test anyway?"  
  
"Your friend Inuyasha can tell you that," replied Crystal jumping up into a nearby tree and vanishing into the distance.  
  
Miroku said, "Well, I suppose we should find a better place to set up camp."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Ryoga was walking through a section of Yosemite National Park.  
  
"Where am I?" Ryoga asked no one in particular and made a run for it as he came face to face with a large bear.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
To Be Continued... 


	5. Distant Memories

Disclaimer: All Anime Characters and concepts are the property of their respective creators. The same is true of any references that might be applied in this fanfiction. This is strictly a work of fanfiction and is by no means meant to be taken literally.  
  
Spoiler Warning: This fanfiction will definately include spoilers of events and characters that appear later on in these Anime Titles. Technically these characters have already appeared, they just haven't appeared in the English version of the series.  
  
------Distant Memories------  
  
The sun rose over the horizon. The rays of light stretched into the distance in waves that couldn't be stopped. Crystal was not bothered by the sudden arrival of morning, for she had been awake the whole night. The world basically moved around her like she wasn't even a part of it and she herself made it clear that she did not plan on acting like part of the world she was living in.  
  
Crystal was up in yet another tree, sitting cross-legged while leaning her back against the trunk of the tree. One might have believed she herself wasn't even aware that the morning had come, because of the vacant, distant expression she had on her face. Normally her thoughts weren't so hard to reach into, but she was trying to reach memories she hadn't visited in years. She was determined to remember something, anything that might rationalize the results of the testing Washu had performed on her.  
  
It occured to her during the night that she had never actually tried to do something like this and that it would probably take a great deal of time and effort to reach into past memories. She had not been prepared for the strange complex that existed within her mind. It was like she had two different sets of memories, one of which was surrounded by a barrier. She was convinced that the memories she was unable to reach were her true memories and that the other set that was simply floating around in her mind was a fake of some kind, left to make her confused. Whatever the reasoning behind this was, it had obviously worked.  
  
How long had her mind been like this? She didn't know that either, but she imagined it had to do with something important that had happened in her past. It was probably something that happened more recently, but she could not remember what this event could have been. The whole situation was starting to bother her more and more, but she couldn't understand what she was meant to do about it.  
  
Crystal clenched and unclenched her fists in frustration. She had spent the last week trying to understand herself and she had become more confused than when she had started. Not only was she more confused, but she was also getting increasingly frustrated. She had managed to catch some holes in the barrier around her true memories and she had recalled a few foggy memories that she intended to hold onto.  
  
*~*~*~* Flashback *~*~*~*  
  
A much younger version of Crystal was in the middle of what could only have been a very thick forest. There was someone else there with her, someone who was probably several years older than her, but their image was clouded and it was impossible to read the details. Whoever this person was, Crystal had definately known them at some point in time.  
  
"What is it you wanted to show me?" asked the clouded figure, who definately had the voice of a young boy.  
  
The young version of Crystal removed the Dragon Blade from its sheath and pointed it at a nearby tree. The figure seemed to be watching her closely as she raised the sword over her head and gave it a nice vertical slash towards the tree while shouting, "Ryuu Douryokuha!" causing a blade of something that looked like metallic purple fire to shoot out at the tree.  
  
[Dragon Power Blade]  
  
The tree dissolved into a smoldering pile of molten wood on the forest floor. Crystal sheathed the sword and folded her arms in front of her.  
  
"The Dragon Blade is a good weapon, isn't it?" asked the young version of Crystal.  
  
"Is that what you've taken to calling that sword of yours?" asked the clouded figure.  
  
The young version of Crystal nodded with a smile on her face, "It seems like a fitting name." She was indicating the hilt of the sword that was carved in the form of a dragon's neck and head, with the odd purple gem in its mouth.  
  
"It seems like a good weapon for you," said the clouded figure.  
  
*~*~*~* Present *~*~*~*  
  
"What's on your mind?" asked a voice.  
  
Crystal didn't imediately recognize the voice as she was suddenly snapped out of her thoughts and back into reality. She blinked several times, almost as though she had been sleeping, although that definately hadn't been the case.  
  
"Inuyasha, what are you doing here?" asked Crystal in surprise.  
  
Inuyasha was sitting up on a branch a short distance above Crystal, in the same tree. In her state of deep thought, she hadn't noticed his arrival, but he obviously hadn't been there very long.  
  
"You have been radiating a very distressed aura," noted Inuyasha.  
  
"Why would my problems matter to you?" asked Crystal, attempting to keep the surprise out of her voice and doing a reasonably bad job of it.  
  
Inuyasha decided to turn this into a sort of challenge, "I could have cared less, but the others wanted me to talk to you anyway."  
  
Crystal jumped up higher into the tree so that she was facing Inuyasha and gave him a glare. It was a reasonably pathetic attempt at a glare really and even though it was by no means intimidating, Inuyasha still managed to get the message.  
  
"Do you have a problem with people being concerned about you?" asked Inuyasha, deciding to change the subject back to something that wouldn't result in him getting knocked out of the tree.  
  
It worked, because stopped attempting to glare at him. She returned to the neutral expression she had been using for the last several days since Washu's revelation. An unskilled person would have had no idea something was bothering her from this expression, but Inuyasha found it easy to read what Crystal was really thinking.  
  
Crystal finally answered, "I just haven't gotten used to the aspect of people being worried about me. If I hadn't settled down in Nerima, I wouldn't even have friends. I'd still be looking for someplace to call home."  
  
"Does that mean you don't trust anyone?" asked Inuyasha.  
  
Crystal hadn't really thought about that. She enjoyed spending time with her friends and talking to them when she did, but did she really trust them? Did she believe they liked her for who she was? Could they be counted on if times turned hard again?  
  
Crystal sighed, "I guess I'm still having trouble trusting people..."  
  
Inuyasha actually smirked, "And why are you telling me all this?"  
  
Crystal blinked and attempted to sort the matter out, "That is a very good question. I honestly don't know."  
  
For the most part Crystal didn't tell anyone what she was thinking. Shiva always had an easy time of getting information out of her and now Inuyasha was having a similar effect. She couldn't figure out why, but for some reason it didn't bother her that she was talking to them. Then it hit her, she really didn't mind that she was talking to Inuyasha, the one who only a few days before had still been calling her "dragon-girl".  
  
Inuyasha managed to figure out what Crystal was thinking from the shocked expression that had appeared on her face. At least that annoyingly neutral expression was gone. In his opinion, the depressed attitude didn't suit her at all.  
  
"Why did you come to this era anyway?" asked Inuyasha.  
  
Crystal shrugged at that one, "I didn't really want my friends from Nerima to find me while I was trying sort out my own thoughts. Come to think of it, I like it in this era. You can really see the stars at night, there aren't as many people, there aren't all those huge buildings all over the place, and it is the perfect way to find a quiet place to think."  
  
"Aren't you afraid of being attacked?" asked Inuyasha.  
  
Crystal shrugged again, "You've seen for yourself that I can handle myself against most of the things that pop up in the forest."  
  
"You look like you haven't slept all week," noted Inuyasha.  
  
Crystal sweatdropped, "That's probably because I haven't."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Does anyone else find it weird that Furinkan has been destroyed by the same "Giant Monster" every day this week and we still haven't seen a sign of it?" asked Ukyo.  
  
Ranma nodded, "That really is weird, even for Nerima."  
  
Reiya added, "And Crystal didn't come back after she visited that Washu person. What do you suppose is up with that?"  
  
"I wouldn't worry too much about Crystal," noted Akane. "She can handle herself just fine."  
  
Reiya shrugged, "I guess so, but she seemed really down when she left."  
  
Ranma said, "She usually gets like that when she has something serious to think about."  
  
"Aren't you curious about what could be so serious that Crystal has been gone for a whole week?" asked Akane.  
  
"Not particularly," replied Ranma. "You said yourself that she can handle herself."  
  
Reiya said, "She could have at least left a message or something."  
  
Ukyo said, "Crystal isn't big on letting people know exactly where she is going."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Did you gather anything from speaking with her?" asked Miroku.  
  
"She's fine," replied Inuyasha.  
  
"Did she say anything interesting?" asked Shippo.  
  
Kagome asked, "Are you sure she's alright?"  
  
"If you're all so damn interested, why don't you go talk to her yourselves?!" demanded Inuyasha.  
  
"She is rather high up in that tree," noted Sango.  
  
"Yeah," agreed Shippo.  
  
"Has it occured to you that maybe she doesn't feel like talking?" asked Inuyasha.  
  
"She talked to you though," noted Kagome.  
  
Inuyasha shrugged, "Yes, she did talk to me. That doesn't mean anything."  
  
Miroku asked, "Does anyone besides me think that there are too many similarities between the way these two act?"  
  
Inuyasha raised an eyebrow, "And just what are you talking about?"  
  
"Oh nothing," said Miroku.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The sun was just starting to set as Crystal jumped up into a new tree for a slight change in scenery. She blinked as a bright light started coming from the main pocket in her backpack. Then memory hit her like a nice heavy sack of bricks.  
  
Crystal unzipped the pocket and removed the Pokemon Egg that had started glowing a bright yellow color. She re-zipped the pocket and hung the bag from another hook-like branch, while holding the Pokemon Egg in her right hand.  
  
"It must be close to hatching," Crystal thought aloud.  
  
A small pillar of the bright yellow light shined from the Pokemon Egg. Crystal was reasonably certain she had been holding the Pokemon Egg, but suddenly it seemed to vanish into thin air. Crystal shrugged this thought off as a small figure appeared in front of her, standing on the tree branch.  
  
It was a small yellow mouse with ears that were definately too big for its head. There were black patches on its ears and around the area beneath its neck. It had beady little black eyes and little red pouches on its cheeks. It also had a little black tail that was shaped, roughly, like a bolt of lightning.  
  
The creature looked up at Crystal and said, "Pichu!"  
  
Crystal smiled, "Kawaii!"  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
To Be Continued... 


	6. This Makes Us Friends?

Disclaimer: All Anime Characters and concepts are the property of their respective creators. The same is true of any references that might be applied in this fanfiction. This is strictly a work of fanfiction and is by no means meant to be taken literally.  
  
Spoiler Warning: This fanfiction will definately include spoilers of events and characters that appear later on in these Anime Titles. Technically these characters have already appeared, they just haven't appeared in the English version of the series.  
  
------This Makes Us Friends?------  
  
It was dark when Crystal got back to her apartment, still the hallway lights confirmed that the refridgerator was still lodged in the wall. The doorway was still doorless. There was still a massive hole in the ceiling from when Lip dropped by for his visit. There were pizza boxes all over the floor when she walked inside, but Reiya was already sound asleep in the second bedroom.  
  
Crystal turned off the living room light as she came inside and started down the hallway with Pichu on her shoulder, regardless of her backpack. It was quiet.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
"Well Crystal, you were only gone for a week and a half," said Reiya the next morning at breakfast.  
  
Breakfast consisted of even more pizza. Crystal wondered if there was anything else that Reiya actually ate and decided against it from the number of empty pizza boxes on the floor.  
  
"I was doing some thinking," replied Crystal. "Have you considered cleaning up this mess?"  
  
"It's crossed my mind," said Reiya.  
  
Pichu simply said, "Pichu."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"It almost feels like I know Crystal from somewhere," Inuyasha was saying.  
  
Miroku asked, "What makes you think that?"  
  
"It's a little strange when you've only met a person four times and it seems like you know what they are thinking before they say anything," replied Inuyasha sounding a little sarcastic.  
  
Sango asked, "Is that what happened with Crystal when you were talking to her?"  
  
Inuyasha nodded, "It was really strange."  
  
"You do have a lot in common," noted Shippo.  
  
Miroku nodded, "Indeed. It isn't surprising that you can understand what she was thinking."  
  
"I get the feeling we're going to be seeing a lot more of her," said Sango.  
  
Inuyasha said, "She and that friend of hers definately making good warriors."  
  
Kagome finally came through the well with a very full looking backpack.  
  
"You're late," stated Inuyasha.  
  
Kagome sweatdropped, "I had to get some things."  
  
Kagome started passing out the new food packages that were stuffed in the backpack. It was going to be a long day in Feudal Japan.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
To the surprise of many residence of Nerima, Furinkan High School had survived the night. The students were mostly disappointed. The usual suspects were rushing towards the school to avoid being late. They were Ranma and Akane.  
  
"What do ya know, school's open," said Ranma like he didn't have a care in the world.  
  
This was short lived as he landed on a section of fence that read "Loose Fence" and was promptly turned female by the cold water on the other side.  
  
"Now we're going to be late," said Akane irritatedly.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
Ranma, back in boy form, and Akane somehow managed to arrive at the school on time anyway. This was good, because Ranma was overdue for having his aura drained by Hinako-sensei.  
  
"Yo, Ucchan," called Ranma across the classroom.  
  
Ukyo walked over by Ranma and Akane, wearing the boy's school uniform as usual.  
  
"Ran-chan, you actually made it on time," said Ukyo.  
  
"He had help," stated Akane.  
  
Crystal and Reiya burst through the door. The bell rang, but they were safe.  
  
"That was close," sighed Crystal.  
  
Reiya shrugged, "A few more seconds and we would have been late."  
  
"We weren't though," noted Crystal.  
  
Everyone started taking their usual seats.  
  
"So, Crystal when did you get back?" asked Ukyo.  
  
"Late last night," replied Crystal holding back a yawn.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
Lunchtime came. Ranma, Akane, Ukyo, Crystal and Reiya were all sitting outside, under a tree. Pichu was on Crystal's shoulder. Crystal had already explained the Washu incident to all of them, which was surprisingly understood by Reiya.  
  
"It sounds like you had a pretty interesting trip," said Ranma.  
  
Crystal shrugged, "I suppose you could say that."  
  
**Crash**  
  
"What was that sound?" asked Ukyo.  
  
"I don't know Ucchan," said Ranma.  
  
The group waited.  
  
**Crash**  
  
"It sounds like it's getting closer," said Reiya.  
  
Crystal raised an eyebrow, "No kidding."  
  
The group continued to wait.  
  
**CRASH**  
  
A monster that greatly resembled a living tank burst through the wall surrounding Furinkan High School. This would not have been so shocking if Ranma, Akane, Ukyo and Crystal had known that this creature was actually a Digimon called Tankmon. As it was, none of them had a clue. However, Reiya knew exactly what the monster was.  
  
"I'm here for the Chosen Digimon," stated the Tankmon attempting to sound menacing.  
  
Reiya was not intimidated by this, "I'm right here, if you think you stand a chance."  
  
Reiya's form literally began to glow with a bright light and her form started to shrink. When the glow faded, Reiya was replaced by a small dragon-like monster. To be exact, she had taken on a form that looked remarkably like a Black Veemon, aside from the emerald green eyes, the silver and gold stripe pattern on its black scales, and the obvious addition of her silvery claws. Crystal recognized this monster as the Rookie form of her creator's partner Digimon, Zapmon.  
  
Zapmon took up a sort of fighting stance as silver electricity began to surge around her clawed hands. She slashed forward causing a streak of the electricity to shoot directly at Tankmon while she shouted, "Silver Lightning!" announcing her attack.  
  
The electrical attack bounced right off of Tankmon's metallic skin. Zapmon returned to her fighting stance and glared at Tankmon without fear.  
  
It occured to Crystal that the larger monster was probably one of those Champion level digimon and that Zapmon didn't stand a chance against him on her own. She wasn't entirely sure what she could do against something that was literally built like a tank, but she didn't really want to watch the little dragon get pulverized either.  
  
Zapmon was holding up one hand with two fingers pointing upward. A small ball of fire in the shape of a razor, spiral-blade formed above her fingers and she launched it at the Tankmon with a shout of, "Blade of Fire!" to announce her alternative attack.  
  
The attack connected with Tankmon without being deflected, but it really didn't do anything in terms of damage. Tankmon seemed to sneer at the Rookie level Digimon as he aimed the cannon that was his nose at her and shouted, "Hyper Cannon!" to announce his attack before a large brown missile shot from the cannon.  
  
Zapmon dived to the side to avoid the attack. Tankmon seemed to shrug this off as he aimed the large assortment of weapons on each of his arms at the dragon. She could not dodge this much fire power and he knew it. He shouted, "Machine Gun Arms!" announcing his attack as he released everything he had on the little dragon.  
  
The first wave knocked Zapmon backwards into the tree that the group had been eating lunch under. Needless to say, the group had already scattered, but was still watching this monster battle with some interest.  
  
Tankmon aimed his cannon, hoping to get the dragon while she was still down. He shouted, "Hyper Cannon!" and let the missile fly.  
  
Crystal's voice sounded, "Gin Hikari!" and a silver ball of energy connected with the missile that was headed for Zapmon, causing it to explode in midair without harming anyone. It simply released a cloud of smoke into the air, which faded quickly.  
  
[Silver Light, Mystic Light]  
  
Tankmon turned a glare towards Crystal who was located up in the tree. She glared right back at him as he aimed his cannon in preparation for another shot. Crystal was preparing to unleash another energy blast when a strange object appeared in the air in front of her.  
  
It was a reasonably simple object really. It was a Digivice of some kind, in this case a model made-up by her creator that was called the D-storm. It basically looked like a D-scanner with several additions like a Card Slash port and a control pad like the one on a gameboy. It also included several bonus features that were quite useful and to top it all off, it looked pretty cool too.  
  
Crystal grabbed the object and realized that her creator was giving her a little help as a character, because in the near future she would probably need it. She reached out and took the Digivice in her hand. Tankmon shouted, "Hyper Cannon!" once again and fired a missile up at Crystal.  
  
In her distraction with the Digivice, Crystal had forgotten to prepare her counter-attack. Zapmon was up again and started glowing at the Digivice in Crystal's hand also started to glow. Crystal remembered this process, like many of the others that had just happened.  
  
"Zapmon digivolve to..." started the small dragon.  
  
Zapmon's form was engulfed in a brilliant showing of light and noise. She increased in size dramatically, still maintaining her dragon-like form. Her new form looked remarkably like that of Ex Veemon. Her eyes maintained the emerald green color of her Rookie form, but her scales that had been black had taken on an appearence that suggested that she was literally on fire.  
  
The light faded, and Crystal saw a Champion form of Zapmon that she had not seen before. This was not the usual Zapdramon evolution, this one was obviously different for some reason. At least she would stand a chance against Tankmon in this new form.  
  
The new form of Zapmon shouted, "Nova Zapdramon!"  
  
Nova Zapdramon knocked the missile back at Tankmon with ease. Then, while Tankmon was recovering from the explosion Nova Zapdramon openned her mouth and shouted, "Inferno!" announcing her own new attack, which consisted of an explosive blaze of fire shooting out of her mouth and incinerating the Tankmon.  
  
Tankmon shattered into data and drifted off into what appeared to be a rift in the sky. The rift closed as the data cloud vanished. Nova Zapdramon lit up again and shrunk back down into Zapmon.  
  
Crystal shrugged and put the D-storm Digivice into her pocket for use later on.  
  
"It looks like we'll make a good team," said the dragon. "Sorry about the big secret up until now."  
  
Crystal nodded, "It's alright, it wouldn't have been easier even if you had said so from the beginning."  
  
Ranma, Akane and Ukyo were staring in shock at what had just happened. It hadn't quite registered that the battle was over.  
  
"I won't be returning to that temporary human form," noted Zapmon.  
  
Crystal shrugged, "I think this form suits you better anyway."  
  
"Pichu," agreed Pichu.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
"You're going back to the Feudal Era again?" asked Zapmon from the couch.  
  
Between the three of them, Crystal, Zapmon and Pichu had managed to rid the entire apartment of empty pizza boxes.  
  
"Yeah, I have a feel I should," replied Crystal.  
  
Zapmon nodded, "And Pichu and I will stay here and keep an eye on the place."  
  
"Basically," replied Crystal.  
  
Zapmon smirked, "You already know I can read minds."  
  
"That's for sure," muttered Crystal.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Is it just me or was that extremely weird?" asked Ranma.  
  
Akane shrugged, "Let's just pretend that didn't happen until Crystal comes back and explains it to us, how's that?"  
  
"Agreed," said Ranma and Ukyo.  
  
Ranma asked, "Do you think that was the thing that has been blowing up Furinkan though?"  
  
"What did we just say Ran-chan?" asked Ukyo.  
  
Ranma sweatdropped, "Nevermind."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
After packing the essential things and traveling to the Masaki residence, Crystal was ready for Washu to teleport her back to the Feudal Era.  
  
"Have a nice trip," said Washu.  
  
"I'm sure I will," replied Crystal.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
Crystal wasn't in the Feudal Era ten minutes before she was being chased by a demon. This particular demon looked something like a giant, humanoid lizard with a very big sword.  
  
Crystal was starting to wonder why it was that every time she came to the Feudal Era she ended up being chased and eventually attacked.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
Coincidentally, Inuyasha's group was in pursuit of the very same demon. The reason they were after this particular demon was for a very specific reason, it had a fragment of the Shikon Jewel.  
  
"You're sure you can sense a Shikon Fragment?" Inuyasha asked for the third time.  
  
"Yes," answered Kagome.  
  
Inuyasha blinked, "That scent...she's back already."  
  
"You mean Crystal?" asked Shippo.  
  
Inuyasha took off ahead of the group.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
Crystal tripped over something on the trail ahead of her, and was sent sprawling to the ground. The lizard man swung its massive sword downward in an attempt to split her in half. He hit something alright, the ground.  
  
Crystal was more than a little surprised to feel herself lifted off the ground and saved from harms way. She was more surprised when she was standing in a nearby tree after Inuyasha had set her down and returned to finish off the lizard man for the Shikon Shard.  
  
Inuyasha was already holding the transformed Tetsusaiga as he gave a good swing at the lizard man while shouting, "Kaze no Kizu!" causing a powerful burst of energy to slice the lizard man to pieces, leaving the Shikon Shard on the ground. He put the Tetsusaiga away and grabbed the Shikon Fragment.  
  
[Cutting Wind, Windscar]  
  
Crystal jumped down from her place in the tree, "It looks like I owe you for saving me this time."  
  
"Why don't we call it even since you did save my group when I wasn't at full power?" asked Inuyasha.  
  
Crystal said, "Alright then. Regardless of how it happened, I guess this means we're friends."  
  
"Something like that," said Inuyasha reasonably confused by Crystal's logic.  
  
The rest of the group caught up to find that the battle was already over.  
  
"Inuyasha, where's the Shikon Fragment?" asked Kagome.  
  
Inuyasha asked, "What Shikon Fragment?"  
  
"Hand it over," said Kagome, "I know you have it."  
  
Inuyasha said, "I don't have it."  
  
"What is a Shikon Fragment?" asked Crystal.  
  
"This," replied Inuyasha removing the fragment from concealment.  
  
Kagome snatched it and quickly put it in the jar with the rest of the ones that had already been collected. Inuyasha grabbed for the jar.  
  
"Sit!" stated Kagome.  
  
**Wham**  
  
Inuyasha hit the ground face-first. Crystal decided not to ask.  
  
"How long are you planning to stay this time?" asked Sango.  
  
Crystal shrugged, "I haven't decided yet."  
  
"Are you going to travel with us for a while?" asked Shippo.  
  
"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to be around others instead of hiding out in the trees," agreed Crystal.  
  
Inuyasha was on his feet again, "What happened to that hungry friend of yours?"  
  
"Oh, Shiva? He's off training," replied Crystal. "He was inspired to become stronger after seeing what kind of creatures exist in this era."  
  
Miroku said, "And another lovely young lady joins our group."  
  
"Don't even think about it!" exclaimed Kagome, Sango and Crystal.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
To Be Continued... 


	7. The Long Awaited Fight

Disclaimer: All Anime Characters and concepts are the property of their respective creators. The same is true of any references that might be applied in this fanfiction. This is strictly a work of fanfiction and is by no means meant to be taken literally.  
  
Spoiler Warning: This fanfiction will definately include spoilers of events and characters that appear later on in these Anime Titles. Technically these characters have already appeared, they just haven't appeared in the English version of the series.  
  
------The Long Awaited Fight------  
  
It was dinnertime at the Tendo Residence, and while the tension was continually rising between Ranma and Akane, it was reasonably quiet. In fact, it was too quiet. First Shiva had left to go on his one month training trip, then Crystal kept leaving without a word to anyone. Since they were gone, the usual chaos continued in Nerima, but nothing really interesting had happened.  
  
**Surge of Power**  
  
This overflow of peacefulness was casually knocked aside by a massive explosion of energy that could only have belonged to Shiva. There was no literal explosion, but anyone with any martial arts training could have felt that aura.  
  
"I think Shiva's done training," said Ranma.  
  
Akane nodded, "I think you might be right. That means he'll be back soon."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Early the next morning, Shiva arrived in Nerima dragging Ryoga along with him. The eternally lost boy had somehow managed to get himself lost enough to arrive in the Grand Canyon on the last day of Shiva's training trip, and Shiva had taken it upon himself to bring him back to Nerima.  
  
"I can't sense Crystal anywhere...which means she probably went back to the Feudal Era," said Shiva suddenly.  
  
"Huh?" Ryoga was obviously confused.  
  
"Oh well, first things first: Breakfast at Ucchan's!" exclaimed Shiva changing the subject so he wouldn't have to explain right away.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
Ryoga had chosen to continue following Shiva, just so he wouldn't end up getting lost again before getting to see Akane. As the two of them entered Ucchan's Okonomiyaki, Konatsu was there to greet them.  
  
"Back from your training trip?" asked Konatsu.  
  
"Yes, I'm back. Has anyone heard from Crystal?" asked Shiva.  
  
Ukyo was behind the counter, "She left without a word and hasn't been back since then. We're all waiting on some kind of explanation for the monster attack at Furinkan, but without her around it's going to be hard to get an answer."  
  
Shiva nodded, "That sounds like Crystal to me."  
  
"Where have you been all month Ryoga?" asked Ukyo.  
  
"Er...I was off traveling on my own training trip," replied Ryoga.  
  
"You got lost again, didn't ya pig-boy?" asked Ranma mockingly as he entered the restaurant.  
  
Ryoga turned around and glared at Ranma.  
  
"I was just asking," said Ranma taking a step back while waving his hands in front of him defensively.  
  
"Hiya, Ran-chan, what can I get you?" asked Ukyo.  
  
"I'll have my usual order, Ucchan," said Ranma.  
  
Shiva said, "And I'll have two orders of okonomiyaki."  
  
"Coming right--" Ukyo paused. "Shiva, are you feeling alright?!"  
  
"I'm fine," stated Shiva.  
  
"But Shiva, you usually order at least ten orders of okonomiyaki and THEN you go to Neko-Hanten and have just as much ramen," noted Ranma.  
  
Shiva shrugged, "So I tamed the demon that lives in my stomach, big deal."  
  
"So, what's this about a monster attack?" asked Ryoga.  
  
"Well some sort of monster that looked like a demon tank attacked this new girl Reiya at Furinkan...then Reiya turned into some sort of little dragon...Crystal got some sort of electronic gizmo and the little dragon turned into a huge dragon and vaporized the tank monster," replied Ukyo. "After that the big dragon turned back into the little dragon and Crystal left with the dragon like nothing had happened."  
  
"We didn't get a chance to ask what it was all about," confirmed Ranma.  
  
Shiva shrugged, "They were both probably Digimon and the object Crystal got is probably a Digivice."  
  
"Huh?" Ranma, Ryoga, Ukyo and Konatsu all favevaulted at Shiva's insanely simple explanation.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
Shiva was walking through Nerima District Park, heading in the general direction of Crystal's apartment. He knew he would have more trouble getting to it when he couldn't just track Crystal's aura to it, but he wanted to confirm his suspicions about the Digimon.  
  
This remained true until Lip landed in front of him from seemingly nowhere. How that powerhouse had managed to arrive without Shiva sensing him coming was a mystery to Shiva himself.  
  
"It seems I have finally found you," said Lip.  
  
Shiva blinked, "Why would you want to find me?"  
  
"Because we are destined to do battle again," replied Lip as though it was extremely obvious, which it wasn't.  
  
Shiva asked, "Are you challenging me?"  
  
"I hear you've been training, so this should be interesting," stated Lip.  
  
Shiva said, "You didn't answer my question, is this a challenge?"  
  
Lip shrugged, "If that's the only way you'll fight me, then yes it is a challenge."  
  
"Then you should write me a formal challenge and send it to Crystal's apartment," replied Shiva.  
  
"How about I just split your head in half?" asked Lip somewhat menacingly.  
  
Shiva shrugged, "Fine, we can fight now. I doubt your handwriting is legible anyway."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Soun Tendo and Panda-san were busy playing Go in the Tendo House.  
  
**Double Surge of Power**  
  
Both men jumped backwards at the two massive auras that had revealed themselves.  
  
"Saotome, what was that?" asked Soun.  
  
Panda-san whipped out a sign that read "How should I know?"  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The first massive battle aura belonged to Shiva, who hadn't gone all the way to full power, but was pretty damn close. The second massive battle aura came from Lip going to Super Saiya-jin Level 4.  
  
Lip cupped his hands in a standard blast position and shouted, "Kamehameha!" which resulted in a massive blue-green wave of energy shooting in Shiva's direction.  
  
[Turtle Devastation Wave]  
  
Shiva countered by cupping his own hands and shouting, "Shishi Takabisha Houkou-dan!" unleashing crimson-golden wave of energy on Lip's attack.  
  
[Pride of the Lion's Roar Projectile]  
  
The two energy waves connected in the air and exploded between the two powerful warriors. The shockwave from the explosion knocked Shiva and Lip backwards, but they both recovered quickly.  
  
"Not bad," said Shiva.  
  
"You haven't seen anything yet," said Lip smirking.  
  
The two warrios began exchanging fierce punches and kicks, causing sonic booms and other loud noises with their brutal speed and power. Within minutes the usual suspects from Ranma 1/2 were present to watch the madness that was taking place in the sky above Nerima District park.  
  
"Does anyone else find it odd that they are defying the known laws of physics, most noteably gravity?" asked Mousse.  
  
"Who cares," said Ranma. "This is a great fight!"  
  
"Spoken like a true warrior," sweatdropped Akane.  
  
Ryoga blinked, "Isn't that the guy that attacked Shiva at the beach during the summer?"  
  
"Come to think of it, he does look like the same guy," said Akane. "How'd you know that though Ryoga? I thought I only saw you at the beach for like a minute."  
  
*~*~*~* Flashback *~*~*~*  
  
"P-chan, what are you doing at the beach?" asked Akane, not actually expecting an answer from her little pet.  
  
Crystal, Ranma and Shiva were still half working on the sand castle they had been making and half watching Akane and P-chan.  
  
Ranma said, "One of these days I have got to spill Ryoga's secret to her."  
  
Shiva walked over to Akane and swiped P-chan away from her.  
  
"Hey, what are you doing?!" shouted Akane angrilly.  
  
Shiva removed a container of hot water from somewhere and poured it over P- chan, after setting him down on the ground. A second later, a very naked Ryoga was sitting there where the little black piglet had been. Shiva said, "Hot water equals Ryoga."  
  
Shiva poured the cold water from another container onto Ryoga who remained silent this whole time. A second later he was P-chan again. Shiva said, "Cold water equals P-chan. Any questions?"  
  
Akane picked up P-chan, "Yeah, where did Ryoga go?"  
  
**Sycronized Facevault**  
  
Ranma, Shiva and Crystal all fell over from their previous positions, taking their sand castle with them. P-chan was relieved.  
  
*~*~*~* Present *~*~*~*  
  
Ryoga sweatdropped nervously, but regained a hold on himself quickly. He was not about to let his secret slip, "Come on Akane, anyone with decent martial arts training would have noticed that fight. It's obvious that this guy has the same battle aura as the guy from the beach, even if it has gotten stronger."  
  
"I think that made sense," said Akane.  
  
Ranma thought ~How does Ryoga always manage to save himself?!~  
  
Shiva and Lip blasted at each other again. This was followed by another explosion and more noisy fist fighting in the sky.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"That is quite an energy disturbance coming from Nerima," said Washu typing away on her floating keyboard. "I better contact Crystal."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The group with Inuyasha, including Crystal stopped walking as a strange person popped up in front of them. This strange person was actually a hologram of Washu that was being transmitted through some kind of time- space disruption field.  
  
"Washu? What's going on?" asked Crystal.  
  
"What is that? It has no scent," asked Inuyasha.  
  
Crystal sweatdropped, "This is a hologram..."  
  
"A what?" asked Shippo.  
  
"An illusion that shows you a person or object that isn't actually there," replied Crystal.  
  
"You certainly know how to simplify explanations," said Washu.  
  
"I try," sweatdropped Crystal.  
  
An image of Shiva and Lip fighting popped up above the hologram, "As you can see, Crystal, you are needed in Nerima to stop those two from accidentally blowing up the entire city."  
  
"Why me?" asked Crystal.  
  
"Because you're the only one who can avoid thinking about it being an awesome fight long enough to stop them," replied Washu.  
  
Crystal sighed, "Washu, how can I stop them when I can't fly, much less jump that high?"  
  
"I didn't say it would be an easy task," said Washu.  
  
Inuyasha was watching the image of the two fighters, "I definately CAN jump that high."  
  
"Does that mean you want to help stop those...uh who are they anyway?" asked Kagome not quite able to recognize Shiva through the rapid movement.  
  
Crystal sweatdropped, "Those two knuckleheads are Shiva and Lip."  
  
"How are you going to stop them?" asked Kagome.  
  
Crystal sighed, "I don't know. I doubt my normal tactic of large falling objects will work when they are radiating auras that can probably melt boulders."  
  
"How about you let me stop them for you?" asked Inuyasha.  
  
"Normally, I wouldn't be in favor of using force, but at the moment I bet both of them are beyond listening to me," said Crystal.  
  
"I better come too," said Kagome. "Someone has to keep Inuyasha under control."  
  
"What does that mean?!" demanded Inuyasha.  
  
Miroku said, "I guess this means we can expect you back later."  
  
"You should probably expect us to come back through the well after this is resolved," agreed Kagome.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
Inuyasha, Kagome and Crystal appeared in Nerima District Park. Shiva and Lip were powering up for some serious blasting.  
  
"I don't think those two lunatics realize they are still on Earth," muttered Crystal.  
  
Kagome asked, "Shouldn't we be stopping them?"  
  
"Uh...right!" stated Crystal sounding reasonably unsure of herself.  
  
Lip shouted, "KAMEHAMEHA!" and unleashed a huge wave of blue-green energy at Shiva.  
  
At the same time Shiva shouted, "SHISHI TAKABISHA HOUKOU-DAN!" and unleashed his counter-wave of crimson-golden energy on Lip's blast.  
  
There was another explosive contact between the two blasts. Shiva and Lip started fist fighting again.  
  
"Alright, while they're close together you can get at them both at the same time," said Crystal. "Inuyasha, you're on!"  
  
Inuyasha didn't need to be given the instructions twice. He launched himself up into the air and ended up conking both warriors in the head with his fists.  
  
Shiva was snapped out of his warrior mode as a familiar presence reached him in his distracted moment, after being hit in the head by Inuyasha. Shiva darted from the sky and glomped Crystal, "You came back!"  
  
Crystal twitched, "Shiva, get off of me before I get tempted to hit you with something."  
  
Lip landed lightly on the ground, changing from Super Saiya-jin Level 4, back to his original state. Inuyasha crashed down to the ground, waving the hand that he had struck Lip with frantically.  
  
"What in the hells is that guy's head made of?!" demanded Inuyasha when he recovered a few minutes later.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
Shiva, Lip and Zapmon were all sitting on the couch in the living room of Crystal's apartment. Crystal was sitting on the floor across from them. On the table was an assortment of okonomiyaki take-out boxes and several ramen bowls.  
  
Shiva was about to bite into another okonomiyaki when it suddenly vanished from his hand as a small yellow blur passed by. Shiva bit into his own hand, "Ouch!"  
  
Pichu landed on the table, the okonomiyaki in his paws a few seconds before he started munching on it. Shiva glared at the mouse-like creature. A few seconds later, Shiva lunged at Pichu with a broom in hand, "Give me back my okonomiyaki!"  
  
Pichu scurried around the room, finishing off the okonomiyaki quickly. Shiva snarled, "Die!"  
  
Pichu started to panic which was followed by accidently blasting Shiva into a wall with a Thundershock attack. Because Pichu was not totally in control of his own electrical power, he shocked himself and crashed into the opposite wall. Since Pichu was only a baby, neither of the impacts caused any damage to the walls, although the electrical energy did cause the lights to flash a few times.  
  
Shiva lunged at Pichu, "You're so mine!"  
  
**Crash**  
  
Shiva was knocked to the floor by a phonebooth.  
  
"Leave Pichu alone Shiva," stated Crystal.  
  
"I've decided that I am going to stay here," stated Lip.  
  
Crystal sweatdropped, "Just what we need, another free-loading houseguest."  
  
"Are you going to stop me?" asked Lip raising a fist threateningly.  
  
Crystal sighed, "I guess not."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
To Be Continued... 


	8. Blast From the Past

Disclaimer: All Anime Characters and concepts are the property of their respective creators. The same is true of any references that might be applied in this fanfiction. This is strictly a work of fanfiction and is by no means meant to be taken literally.  
  
Spoiler Warning: This fanfiction will definately include spoilers of events and characters that appear later on in these Anime Titles. Technically these characters have already appeared, they just haven't appeared in the English version of the series.  
  
Author's Notes: I'd like to thank Shiva, Thorn, Sakura Joy, and Lady Yami for their reviews so far. I have fun writing this series, but it's even better when I find out other people enjoy reading it. Anyways, on with the show!  
  
------Blast From the Past------  
  
*~*~*~* Dream Sequence *~*~*~*  
  
"Gah!" shouted a younger looking version of Crystal. She was running through a forest as something caused the area behind her to erupt into a blaze of white fire. She tripped over something and a burst of white flames showered down on her.  
  
"No, Crystal!" shouted a voice.  
  
*~*~*~* Present *~*~*~*  
  
Crystal sat up on her futon in a cold sweat. It was the fifth night in a row that the same dream had caused her to do this. She rubbed her arm across her forehead to wipe away the sweat and crawled out from under her odd assortment of blankets.  
  
"The voice in the dream sounds so familiar," mumbled Crystal to herself as she grabbed a change of clothes from her dresser and headed down the hallway towards the bathroom to take a shower.  
  
It was around 4:30 in the morning, but Crystal really didn't feel like going back to sleep after having that dream again. She yawned tiredly as she turned on the water for her shower, setting her change of clothes on the bathroom counter.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
"Crystal, maybe you should stay home today," said Zapmon sounding a little worried.  
  
Crystal shrugged, sitting cross-legged in the middle of the living room floor. She was positioned directly underneath the hole that Lip had left when he had crashed through the ceiling.  
  
"I'm fine. A few hours of missed sleep aren't going to kill me."  
  
"It doesn't matter anyway, the news report already said that Furinkan was knocked down by a Giant Monster again."  
  
"I'm not staying here."  
  
"Where do you plan on going?"  
  
"It doesn't matter as long as it gets me outside."  
  
"Are you always this stubborn?"  
  
Crystal shrugged again, "That all depends on how you define always."  
  
Zapmon sweatdropped.  
  
A beeping noise started coming from the D-storm Digivice that was located in Crystal's pocket, so she took it out and looked at the screen. An icon indicating a new e-mail message was flashing on it, so Crystal pushed the button that she had determined to be the "select" button and a message popped up on a projected screen above the actual Digivice monitor.  
  
*~*~*~* The Message *~*~*~*  
  
To Crystal of the Digidestined,  
  
I have recieved word that your tag and crest has been located near the ruins of Spiral Mountain. I would suggest you go there right away and retrieve these items before they fall into the wrong hands. That is all for now.  
  
--Slashmon  
  
*~*~*~* End Message *~*~*~*  
  
"Well, if Slashmon's the one telling us to go, we better go and quick," stated Zapmon sounding desperate.  
  
Crystal nodded as the second screen that had appeared on the D-storm suddenly vanished along with the e-mail message.  
  
"One question, how do we get to this Spiral Mountain place?" asked Crystal.  
  
Zapmon facevaulted.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
A young team of warriors headed towards where Furinkan High School had been standing the day before. This team consisted of Ranma, Akane, Ukyo, Ryoga and Shiva aiming to investigate the rumors of the Giant Monster. Shiva had made it clear that the only reason he intended to come was to fight the monster if it proved to be real.  
  
"It's really quiet when there isn't anyone at the school," said Akane.  
  
Ranma smirked, "Are ya scared?"  
  
"Not at all," replied Akane.  
  
"Ran-chan, do you think we can really get to the bottom of this?" asked Ukyo.  
  
"Sure we can," said Ranma. "Monsters don't stand a chance against the Anything-Goes School of Martial Arts."  
  
Ukyo asked, "Do you really think you're ready to take on a Giant Monster?"  
  
"If he can't, I will," stated Shiva. It should be noted that prior to his training trip, Shiva had always been wearing a white Gi, but since he came back he has switched to wearing a black Gi.  
  
"Ryoga, we're not going on one of your little side trips," said Ranma.  
  
Ryoga sweatdropped and managed to catch up with the group.  
  
"We're almost there," said Ranma cracking his knuckles.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Crystal took her first steps into the Digital Forest. It was like any ordinary forest, except that she was reasonably certain most of these plants did not exist on Earth. Since Zapmon wasn't worried, Crystal decided the area was probably safe.  
  
"We'll get to the ruins of Spiral Mountain faster if you Armor Digivolve me," said Zapmon.  
  
Crystal blinked, "Do what?"  
  
"Do you see an egg-like icon on the D-storm monitor?" asked Zapmon.  
  
Crystal removed the D-storm from her pocket and observed the screen carefully. There was definately an egg-like icon on the screen, so she nodded.  
  
"Alright, just say Digi-Armor Energize and the rest is automatic," stated Zapmon.  
  
Crystal asked, "How come I didn't notice that icon before?"  
  
"Cause I didn't tell you about it," replied Zapmon.  
  
Crystal nodded, "Alright, I think I get it then."  
  
"Then say the words," said Zapmon impatiently.  
  
Crystal held out the D-storm and decided to shout the words for dramatic effect, "Digi-Armor Energize!"  
  
This resulted in a beam of silver light shooting from the digivice, along with some sort of glowing, round object. These connected with Zapmon's body and she was engulfed in a bright silver light.  
  
"Zapmon Armor Digivolve To..." Zapmon started as the transformation of evolution began to take place.  
  
Zapmon's physical shape changed to something remarkably similar to that of Raidramon's. The color pattern was noticeably different in the sense that part of the new Digimon's body that was covered by the armor, where Raidramon would have been blue, was the same black color as Zapmon's scales had been along with the same silver and gold stripe pattern. The new Digimon also had Zapmon's emerald green eyes. The armor that would have been black was white and the Digimon's claws were silver. Where there would normally have been the symbol for Friendship, there was a mark that looked like a silver shooting star.  
  
The new Digimon shouted, "Lightningmon, Defender of Time and Space!"  
  
Crystal stepped back in wonder, "That was a cool transformation."  
  
"I've got some even better ones that can be unlocked by that crest we're going to pick up," said Lightningmon. "Climb on."  
  
Crystal got onto Lightningmon's back easily enough, but once the armored Digimon started darting through the forest, she decided to hang onto one of the spikes that was conveniently sticking out of Lightningmon's back, somewhere between the her shoulder-blades.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"What the hell is a trap doing in here?!" exclaimed Ranma.  
  
He, Ryoga, Akane and Ukyo were dangling from the ceiling of the gym in what appeared to be an old fishing net. Shiva had stopped walking a few seconds early and had managed to avoid getting caught in the otherwise, rediculously obvious trap.  
  
"If it isn't the true identities of the Giant Monster," said a voice that sounded to Ranma, annoyingly like Kuno.  
  
Ranma tried to twist around to glare at Kuno, but found himself face to shoe with Ryoga's foot. Upon seeing his beloved Akane, Kuno instantly lowered the net.  
  
"Might I ask what all of you are doing here on a day like today?" asked Kuno.  
  
Ranma said, "We're obviously looking for the Giant Monster we've been hearing so much about."  
  
"It's useless," stated Kuno. "I, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan have searched these grounds up and down, and there is no sign of any monster."  
  
Ukyo folded her arms in front of her, "This is very strange."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Kagome was making her way towards the well, ready to head back to the Feudal Era when something very big appeared out of seemingly nowhere. She didn't get a very good look at the creature until after it had appeared in front of her and snatched away the container with the Shikon Fragments in it.  
  
What she saw flying off into the distance looked like a giant, flying squirrel. It had to have been at least twenty feet tall. It appeared to be holding something in one of its massive fore-paws.  
  
"Uh-oh," muttered Kagome.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Lightningmon skidded to a halt at what definately looked like the ruins of Spiral Mountain. The area was dark and gloomy looking, but any traces of evil Digimon had definately been cleared out long ago. Crystal slipped down from Lightningmon's back and started looking around for the tag and crest that Slashmon had mentioned in his e-mail.  
  
Lightningmon shrunk back into Zapmon, which caused the round object that had struck her with the beam of light to shoot back into Crystal's D-storm. Zapmon decided to help Crystal look around the area for the tag and crest in question.  
  
"Are you looking for this?" asked a cloaked figure who seemed to have a appeared from behind a severely damaged stone wall. In a human looking, clawed hand, the figure was holding what looked to be a tag and crest. The symbol on crest was the same image of a silver shooting star that had been on Lightningmon's armor.  
  
"Who are you?!" demanded Zapmon clenching her fists.  
  
The cloaked figure cackled menacingly which caused Crystal to shudder. The figure basically looked like Daemon, aside from the fact that the cloak was black instead of red. The skellital, metallic wings that were sticking out of his back, glinting a strange shade of red were not helping with the creepiness factor. Upon further inspection of the cloaked face, glowing, blood red eyes were staring intently on the girl who was now standing there shivering violently as though she had been an ordinary girl who had just seen a ghost.  
  
In his other hand, the cloaked figure, who by this time was obviously an evil Digimon, was holding a golden staff in his free hand. The staff ended in a red hazard symbol that seemed to promise great pain to anyone that irritated its carrier.  
  
Zapmon shouted again, "Who are you?!"  
  
"Warmon..." stammered Crystal as a partial memory seemed to kick in.  
  
Warmon probably would have been sneering at her if he hadn't been wearing that annoying hood over his face. He stuffed the tag and crest into a pouch within his cloak and waved dismissively at Crystal and Zapmon, "You two are hardly worth my time, although I am curious as to how Crystal has been able to get at those blocked memories of her brother."  
  
"My brother?" Crystal was done shivering and was now attempting to glare at Warmon. "What did you do to my family?!"  
  
Warmon cackled again, "I did nothing to them, as your true memories would let you know. However, I'd rather not let you have those back...and I really should rid you of these pesky memories of that brother of yours...those really were the hardest to block and I am rather surprised you were able to find them again, but I really can't have to messing up my plans."  
  
"Your plans?! You're the one who practically destroyed my life!" exclaimed Crystal clenching her fists angrilly.  
  
Warmon waved his hand again, "What does the life of a pathetic little half- breed like you matter to me anyway? When I destroy this world and the one you live in, you'll die anyway."  
  
~He must have been afraid of the kind of power I have...~ Crystal thought to herself. ~That might be why he changed my memories...he didn't want me to become strong enough to ruin his so-call plans.~  
  
"Enough talk," growled Crystal. "Zapmon, are you ready?"  
  
Zapmon nodded and began to glow along with the bright light that was shining from the D-storm in Crystal's pocket.  
  
"We've got to get that crest back," stated Crystal.  
  
"Zapmon Digivolve To..." Zapmon began the evolution process.  
  
Zapmon's form changed into a form that looked very similar to Ex Veemon. She still maintained her black scales with the silver and gold stripe pattern. Her eyes were still the same emerald green and her claws had become an even more brilliant silver color. The wings that appeared on her back were a bright golden color.  
  
"Zapdramon!" shouted the Champion form of Zapmon.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Kagome's seriously late," grumbled Inuyasha.  
  
Shippo asked, "Does that mean you're going to get her?"  
  
"She isn't normally this late," noted Miroku.  
  
"Fine, I'll go," said Inuyasha.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
Inuyasha was headed in the general direction of Furinkan High School, although he himself wasn't entirely sure why Kagome had gone there instead of coming back to the Feudal Era like she said she would. That was around when he caught the scent of what could have only been some kind of demon. If Kagome was following it, that could only mean one thing.  
  
"Dammit!" cursed Inuyasha.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"That is a very big flying squirrel," shouted Ranma as he dodged a massive paw swooping towards his head.  
  
Shiva was casually leaning against the remains of a wall, waiting for Ranma to call it quits so he would get a chance to fight. Lip had shown up at some point and was casually leaning against another wall that happened to be facing Shiva. Lip was casually glaring at Shiva while Ranma was running for his life.  
  
Ukyo hurled a barrage of spatulas at the monstrous flying squirrel, but they only bounced off of its armor-like fur.  
  
"I tried," said Ukyo as she joined Akane in hiding behind a row of bushes.  
  
Ryoga struck the ground with his fist, "Bakusai Tenketsu!" causing the ground to shatter from beneath the massive flying squirrel, while Ranma jumped into the safety of a nearby tree.  
  
[Breaking Point]  
  
While the demonic flying squirrel lost its balance and toppled into Ryoga's small canyon, Ranma and Ryoga jumped into the air and cupped there hands in a ready-to-blast position.  
  
Ranma shouted, "Moukou Takabisha!" unleashing his specialty, confidence blast. The burst of energy gave off a blue-green color as it was released.  
  
[Pride of the Fierce Tiger]  
  
Ryoga shouted, "Shishi Houkoudan!" unleashing his specialty, heavy-hearted blast. The burst of energy gave off a redish-orange color as it was released.  
  
[Lion's Roar Projectile]  
  
The two powerful blasts of energy combined, becoming very similar to Shiva's special attack. This was followed by the new blast crashing down on the demonic flying squirrel, which roared more out of anger than pain.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Sakujo Shougaibutsu!" shouted Warmon as he launched a data distortion field at Zapdramon, who had been coming in for her own attack.  
  
[Obstacle Delete]  
  
The blast knocked Zapdramon to the ground and caused her data to start destabilizing. Crystal growled in anger at see one of her newest friends being struck down by the monstrous Warmon. Her fingernails extended into claws and her ears became pointed. She felt ready to fight.  
  
Warmon waved his staff at Crystal, "Tezawari no Hakai!" and launched a massive wave of negative energy at her. Crystal was sent sprawling backwards by the blast as cuts formed on her arms.  
  
[Touch of Destruction]  
  
Crystal recovered quickly and rushed at Warmon, aiming her claws for a very specific part of Warmon's cloak, "Tsume Gin!" and struck paydirt as her claws ripped through the cloak and her hand wrapped around the tag and crest.  
  
[Claws of Silver]  
  
Warmon's claws slashed across Crystal's midsection, "Akuma Utsu!" and Crystal dropped heavily to the ground.  
  
[Devil Strike]  
  
Crystal rose to her feet and slipped the tag and crest around her neck. She gave Warmon a weak smile, "You're going to be sorry for messing with my friend." Then she passed out as the crest began to glow silver.  
  
Zapdramon's data restabilized she she began to glow with the same silver light as Crystal's crest, "Zapdramon Digivolve To..."  
  
The hand and lower part of Zapdramon's right arm transformed into a metallic blaster cannon. The upper left section of her face, over her left eye was covered by a metallic half-mask. She also increased in size slightly.  
  
The Ultimate form of Zapdramon shouted, "Sparkmon!"  
  
Sparkmon aimed her cannon at Warmon and shouted, "Projectile Sphere!" unleashing a sphere of fire and lightning energy on Warmon.  
  
Warmon was knocked back by the blast and proceeded to vanish into thin air. Sparkmon glowed for a second and shrunk back down into Zapmon. The dragon- like monster ran over to the fallen form of Crystal, who was still in her semi-transformed state.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Ranma and Ryoga dove behind a row of trash cans as the giant flying squirrel swiped at them once again. It could have been that the imaginations of the people who were watching this were starting to play tricks on them, or the squirrel was actually starting to grow larger and more fierce looking.  
  
"Kaze no Kizu!" shouted the familiar voice of Inuyasha as several waves of energy shot off of the transformed Tetsusaiga and cut clean through the demonic flying squirrel. He swung again and the giant flying squirrel was reduced to a fine dust, the container with the Shikon Fragments in the middle of the mess.  
  
[Cutting Wind, Windscar]  
  
Shiva sighed, "I didn't even get to fight."  
  
"Do you want to fight?" asked Lip cracking his knuckles.  
  
Ukyo came out of hiding behind the row of bushes, "Chill out you two."  
  
"At least we finally defeated the so-called Giant Monster that has been attacking Furinkan," said Akane.  
  
Ranma came out from behind the row of trash cans. He looked the worst for wear, probably because he had been fighting from the start and had managed to take the most hits, regardless of his speed. Ranma looked around, "Alright, what happened to Kuno?"  
  
"I think he left when things started looking too dangerous," said Ryoga as he also came out from behind the row of trash cans.  
  
Inuyasha put the Tetsusaiga away. Kagome finally ran onto the scene, looking a little tired from her trip to Furinkan, but she did manage to get to the container with the Shikon Fragments before Inuyasha did. Inuyasha decided to shrug this off as something else decided to bother him.  
  
"Why is the scent of Crystal's blood coming from that direction?" asked Inuyasha pointing in the general direction of Crystal's apartment.  
  
Shiva sniffed the air. He might not have had demonic senses, but his were extremely close in comparison. Shiva blinked, "That does smell like her...she's injured?!"  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
The assembled group entered Crystal's apartment in the following order:  
  
Inuyasha, with Kagome on his back, came through the large hole in the roof. At the same time, Shiva and Ranma who were moving at exactly the same speed managed to get stuck in the doorless doorway. This was followed by Ryoga crashing into Shiva and Ranma like some kind of tank, knocking them into the apartment as he entered it himself. Ukyo and Akane brought up the rear and Lip was nowhere to be seen.  
  
Crystal was sitting on the floor in the middle of the room. There was a first aid kit on the table and Crystal was attempting to put the bandages on herself. By this time she was back to her old self, although she was definately injured.  
  
"I tried to help, but she simply won't let me," muttered Zapmon from her spot on the couch.  
  
Ukyo said, "You've got a lot to learn. Crystal doesn't listen to anyone."  
  
Crystal was actually more or less finished applying the bandages. It was just the small matter of putting the ones around her left arm. Since she was left handed, working mostly with her right arm was reasonably difficult.  
  
Kagome walked, "You want me to get that for you?"  
  
Crystal looked up from her handy work and shrugged, "I suppose."  
  
While Crystal was still being bandaged up, Zapmon explained what happened. Shiva mentioned the demonic flying squirrel.  
  
Crystal got to her feet, wincing slightly, but making an effort not to reveal her pain, "It sounds like all of this calls for a celebration of some kind. I hear there's a new buffet in town."  
  
"Don't they ever learn?" Shiva wondered aloud.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
Akane and Ukyo had enough sense to know that they definately did not want to see the combination of Ranma, Ryoga and Shiva eating, combined with the fact that Inuyasha, Crystal and Zapmon probably weren't much better. Kagome herself didn't have a clue what she was getting into when she agreed to go to this new buffet with the group.  
  
Ranma, Ryoga and Shiva all took positions at different places along the buffet line and started eating at an inhuman pace, occassionally snatching food from each other. Crystal had a sense of mind to take what she wanted and take a place at a nearby table in case she wanted to attempt getting more. After watching for about a minute, Kagome decided to follow Crystal's example. Since there seemed to be a shortage on pizza, Zapmon had taken a spot at the dessert bar, along with Pichu [when he wasn't snatching food from Shiva] who had somehow ended up following the group into the buffet.  
  
Inuyasha also managed to get mixed up in the craziness that was going on along the buffet line. A few minutes later Lip was in on the action, along with his Saiya-jin eating habbits.  
  
At first the manager of the buffet had been struggling to keep up with how fast everything was being eaten. By this point, he was in the background attempting to hang himself. This attempted failed and the manager was relieved to see that the odd assortment of characters left the buffet.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
"That was good," said Ranma.  
  
"I'm still hungry," said Shiva.  
  
Crystal said, "Ramen."  
  
"I was going to say that," said Inuyasha.  
  
"I'm not sure why I said it," sweatdropped Crystal.  
  
Kagome said, "I am going home."  
  
"Let's drop by the Neko-Hanten," suggested Shiva.  
  
Inuyasha remembered that name from somewhere, "Isn't that the ramen place?"  
  
"Yes," confirmed Kagome.  
  
"Can I go too?" asked Inuyasha.  
  
Kagome said, "I don't know. If I'm not around, who's going to keep you under control?"  
  
"I can handle that," replied Crystal.  
  
"How do you plan to do that?" asked Kagome.  
  
Crystal shrugged, "After all, I am the one that will be paying for the ramen."  
  
Inuyasha nodded absently.  
  
"Crystal, weren't you injured?" asked Zapmon.  
  
Crystal shrugged again and removed the bandages from her arms, tossing the bandages into a nearby trash can.  
  
Zapmon gasped, "Those scratches are practically gone already!"  
  
"And by morning I'll be perfectly fine," said Crystal. "I told you not to worry."  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
Ranma, Crystal, Shiva, Lip and Inuyasha entered the Neko-Hanten. Zapmon and Pichu had headed back to Crystal's apartment for the night. Ryoga had managed to wander off.  
  
"What do you mean I have to pay for my own ramen?!" demanded Ranma and Lip.  
  
Crystal sighed, "I said I'd cover for Shiva and Inuyasha, not you two."  
  
Lip smirked, "How's this Ranma, we'll fight and the loser pays for both orders of ramen?"  
  
"Alright," said Ranma. "You're on."  
  
The two of them started fighting. Shampoo decided to step in and assist Ranma, which resulted in her getting the wind knocked out of her by one of Lip's punches. This was followed a few minutes later by Ranma crashing through one of the walls, flying outside in an unconscious heap.  
  
"Uh-oh," said Crystal.  
  
Shampoo regained consciousness, took in the scene at hand, and latched onto Lip's arm.  
  
"What's going on?" asked Lip sounding slightly confused.  
  
Shiva was attempting to hold back his laughter as he explained the situation to Lip, "Shampoo is an Amazon, which means that in beating her, you've ensured that she is going to try everything possible to make you her husband."  
  
Lip probably would have facevaulted, if not for the purple-haired Amazon clinging to his arm.  
  
"If it weren't for everything that has happened recently, I might have been surprised," said Crystal shaking her head.  
  
Inuyasha just continued to eat his ramen.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
So Ends Another Day...  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Author's Notes: Wow, that turned out to be a lot longer than I thought it would be. 


	9. Why Should I Care?

Disclaimer: All Anime Characters and concepts are the property of their respective creators. The same is true of any references that might be applied in this fanfiction. This is strictly a work of fanfiction and is by no means meant to be taken literally.  
  
Spoiler Warning: This fanfiction will definately include spoilers of events and characters that appear later on in these Anime Titles. Technically these characters have already appeared, they just haven't appeared in the English version of the series.  
  
------Why Should I Care?------  
  
*~*~*~* Dream Sequence *~*~*~*  
  
Crystal was in the middle of a small circular clearing in a forest. The usual clouded figure was there and so was another one that was somewhat taller than the first. Crystal had already drawn the Dragon Blade.  
  
Something was coming at her from behind. She could easily sense it coming. She spun around and slashed her attacker in half with the Dragon Blade. Upon closer inspection, this was another clouded image.  
  
"How did you know it was coming?" asked the usual clouded figure.  
  
Crystal sheathed the Dragon Blade, "I'm not sure. I could feel it."  
  
The second figure said, "With proper training you could become a great warrior."  
  
"I'm better at forming strategies than actual combat," replied Crystal.  
  
*~*~*~* Present *~*~*~*  
  
Crystal opened her eyes to find herself in her room, in her apartment. This in itself was a little strange considering she was reasonably certain she had fallen asleep on roof. Who would have carried her inside so late at night?  
  
A snore from the foot of her futon indicated that Zapmon was still asleep. A more quiet snore on the pillow next ot her indicated that Pichu was also still asleep.  
  
Crystal sat up quietly and slipped away from her place of sleep. She walked over to her dresser as something else occured to her. For the first time in weeks she hadn't suffered from her old nightmares. She shook her head in confusion and started down the hallway with her change of clothes.  
  
*~*~*~* Flashback *~*~*~*  
  
As soon as Shiva's words about Shampoo making Lip her husband registered on Lip's mind, he somehow escaped from Shampoo's iron grip and bolted outside. Shampoo took off after him and Mousse wasn't far behind.  
  
"That idiot," said Shiva.  
  
*~*~*~* Present *~*~*~*  
  
Crystal walked into the living room after taking her shower and changing into some different clothes that weren't torn or stained with blood.  
  
"At least Lip won't be here to cause trouble," Crystal sighed to herself.  
  
She noticed someone else in the living room. If Crystal hadn't been so used to finding people randomly appearing in her apartment, she might have been surprised. In this case, she had been the one to suggest that the visitor in question spend the night since it had gotten relatively late. She would have thought this particular visitor would have already gone, but there they were playing her Nintendo 64.  
  
Crystal blinked, "Inuyasha, what exactly are you still doing here and how do you know how to work my video games?"  
  
Inuyasha looked away from the TV screen, "Well, I was going to leave, but Shiva started cooking and it smelled good, and I decided to stick around for breakfast. I had no idea it was going to take so long..."  
  
"I showed him how to play the game," said Shiva from the kitchen. He was performing seven other tasks at the same time.  
  
The game in question was Tetris. Crystal shrugged and sat down on the couch, returning to the list of thoughts she had been sorting when she first woke up. So far, this morning was proving to be the start of a very confusing day.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
"Inuyasha, you're late," said Kagome.  
  
Inuyasha blinked, "Isn't that what I'm supposed to say to you?"  
  
"Normally, that would be true," said Miroku. "However, this time it is you that is late."  
  
"Alright, so Shiva's definition of breakfast took a while," said Inuyasha defensively.  
  
Sango said, "So the guy that eats enough to feed a small country cooks too?"  
  
"Apparently," said Shippo.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Ranma, Akane, Ukyo, Nabiki, Kuno and Crystal all entered their new Physics class. This was all very sudden, because Principle Kuno had just made the announcment about hiring a new teacher and which students were to report to the class. It wasn't just the usual suspects, but it was strange that all of them were in the same class at the same time. The strangest thing was the teacher.  
  
"Shiva?! You're teaching here?!" exclaimed several voices.  
  
Shiva was standing at the front of the room behind an abnormally large desk. On that desk was his infamous picnic basket. The assembled group continued to stare at Shiva for several more minutes.  
  
"Take your seats already," stated Shiva simply.  
  
Surprisingly, everyone listened to him.  
  
"Now, for our first lesson, I'll show you what energy looks like," said Shiva grinning broadly.  
  
The resident martial artists weren't surprised when Shiva formed a small glowing orb in the palm of his hand.  
  
"Isn't that supposed to be impossible?" asked Hiroshi [one of Ranma's friends.]  
  
Shiva said, "First we'll learn physics. Then we'll learn to defy them."  
  
"Is this a martial arts class?" asked Daisuke [Ranma's other friend.]  
  
"I have a feeling it could be," shuddered Crystal.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"So, Inuyasha what went on with you and Crystal?" asked Miroku curiously.  
  
Inuyasha blinked and then glared at the monk, "What are you talking about? When I finished that ramen stop with Crystal and Shiva it was late. Crystal said that I could stay in the extra room in her apartment since Shiva sleeps on the couch and I decided it was a good idea."  
  
"Just how late was it?" asked Shippo.  
  
Inuyasha shrugged, "All I know is that everything started closing down and we headed for the strange building that Crystal lives in. It was different from Kagome's house, but it seemed safe enough."  
  
"And then you decided to stay for breakfast?" asked Sango.  
  
Inuyasha was starting to sound reasonably annoyed, "How many times do I have to tell you?! That's all that happened!"  
  
*~*~*~* Flashback *~*~*~*  
  
It was the middle of the night. Inuyasha was sitting on the floor, attempting to make sense of the odd device that would ocassionally display pictures when he pushed one of the labeled buttons on the smaller device he had found on the table.  
  
Inuyasha felt a little surprised by the fact that Crystal hadn't gone through a huge lecture about how he shouldn't touch anything without asking how it worked. In fact, when they had entered the odd area of the building that was her apartment, she had simply told him to make himself at home and that he could sleep in the extra room at the end of the hallway. She herself, had vanished through the hole in the ceiling and onto the roof for what he assumed was several hours earlier.  
  
Shiva was snoring quietly on the couch, and Inuyasha realized that Crystal was probably asleep by this time. She probably wouldn't want to spend the night on the roof and Inuyasha had figured out which room was probably hers. Inuyasha made up his mind and jumped up to the roof.  
  
~No wonder she came up here, there's a great view of the sky~ thought Inuyasha.  
  
Sure enough, Crystal was asleep, looking as though she had probably been star-gazing before her eyes decided to close of their own accord.  
  
*~*~*~* Present *~*~*~*  
  
~I definately get the feeling I know her from somewhere~ thought Inuyasha while he continued to get odd looks from Miroku, Sango and Shippo. He noticed that Kagome definately wasn't looking at him.  
  
"What did I do?!" demanded Inuyasha.  
  
"Nothing," replied Kagome.  
  
Inuyasha asked, "Then why are you angry?"  
  
"I'm not angry," said Kagome.  
  
"Yes you are," said Inuyasha.  
  
"No I'm not," said Kagome.  
  
"You are."  
  
"Are not."  
  
"You are!"  
  
"Are not!"  
  
"You are angry," persisted Inuyasha.  
  
Kagome turned around, "Inuyasha..."  
  
Inuyasha gulped, "Eh?"  
  
"Sit!"  
  
**Wham**  
  
Inuyasha crashed face-first into the ground.  
  
"What did I do?" asked Inuyasha from the ground.  
  
Shippo spoke up, "You seriously think you can get away with cheating on Kagome?"  
  
"What?!" Inuyasha practically exploded as he rose to his feet glaring at Shippo.  
  
Sango nodded, "It's your own fault that Kagome is angry."  
  
"Indeed," agreed Miroku.  
  
Kagome started walking in the direction of the well.  
  
"At least I think they are the same species," noted Shippo.  
  
**Whap**  
  
Shippo scowled at Inuyasha as a large, throbbing lump formed on his head, "What was that for?!"  
  
Inuyasha started after Kagome, "Kagome, it isn't what you think!"  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
"Kagome, would you at least let me explain?" asked Inuyasha finally.  
  
Kagome stopped and turned around, "Explain what?"  
  
"I just wanted ramen last night," replied Inuyasha. "It was late. Crystal offered me a place to sleep. That was it. She was just trying to be nice by letting me stay."  
  
Kagome asked, "Is that all?"  
  
"It isn't my fault that it seems like I know Crystal from somewhere," said Inuyasha. He suddenly got the idea that had been the wrong thing to say.  
  
"Inuyasha," said Kagome. "Sit."  
  
**Wham**  
  
Inuyasha crashed to the ground again. Kagome jumped into the well.  
  
Inuyasha got up, "Why should I care what you think anyway?!"  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Suddenly, I'm regretting that the Giant Monster was destroyed," grumbled Crystal.  
  
Ranma seemed cheerful enough, "Shiva's physics class is great!"  
  
"You're just happy because it's the only class you're passing so far and the homework is to meditate for an hour," said Akane.  
  
"Ran-chan, enjoying school? Maybe we should take him to see Tofu-sensei," said Ukyo.  
  
"I'm not sick," said Ranma.  
  
There was a pause in their conversation. Lip dashed by followed by Shampoo. Shampoo was being followed by Mousse. A split second later they were clear down the end of the street and turning the corner.  
  
"How long can Lip keep running?" asked Ukyo.  
  
Ranma said, "I think he forgot about flying."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Do you really think there could be something going on with Inuyasha and Crystal?" asked Shippo.  
  
Miroku shrugged, "I doubt it. They do act very similarly, but I wouldn't conclude that anything like--"  
  
**Thump**  
  
Hiraikotsu connected with Miroku's head, causing him to drop to the forest floor.  
  
"That is not the sort of thing you should be telling a child," stated Sango.  
  
Inuyasha approached the group looking thoroughly sulky.  
  
"I take things didn't go well with Kagome," said Miroku.  
  
Inuyasha glared at Miroku, "Who's fault do you think this is? You started the conversation!"  
  
"I was just curious," said Miroku.  
  
Inuyasha was about to say something else when it occured to him that there was an annoying similarity between this monk and Shiva. Inuyasha shook his head and decided he didn't want to think about that.  
  
"You do realize that with the way Crystal probably ages, she still has the mentality of a child, right?" asked Inuyasha changing the subject.  
  
Miroku blinked, "I hadn't thought of that."  
  
"She is definately more mature than Shippo, and smarter for that matter, but she is still a child," stated Inuyasha.  
  
"What does that mean?!" demanded Shippo.  
  
Inuyasha ignored him.  
  
"So you don't like her?" asked Miroku.  
  
Inuyasha sweatdropped, "Not in the sense you're thinking monk."  
  
"I was only asking," said Miroku.  
  
Sango asked, "Did you explain this to Kagome?"  
  
"I tried," muttered Inuyasha going back into sulky-mode.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"I know I shouldn't have reacted so harshly," Kagome said to herself up in her room.  
  
After going over the events in the Feudal Era in her head about thirty times in the coarse of ten minutes, Kagome had decided that she had definately over-reacted. From the sound of it, this could prove to be something important that might actually be helpful in the long run. Maybe if they kept Crystal around long enough, this whole mystery would sort itself out.  
  
Inuyasha really did seem to know the girl from somewhere. The fact that he couldn't recall why or how he knew her was a little strange. The more she thought about it, the more curious Kagome got. She reached a conclusion that she believed would work.  
  
Kagome headed downstairs and picked up the phone.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
Inuyasha entered Kagome's room through the window.  
  
"Inuyasha, what are you doing here?" asked Kagome sounding a little surprised. Obviously, any anger that had been there before was completely gone now.  
  
"Er..." Inuyasha started and looked at the floor. "I came to apoligize for before..."  
  
Kagome blinked, "Don't worry about it, I just over-reacted."  
  
Inuyasha looked up, "You're not mad?"  
  
"Nope," replied Kagome smiling.  
  
Inuyasha blinked, "What are you scheming?"  
  
"Crystal's going to come back through the well with us," said Kagome.  
  
Inuyasha facevaulted.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
So Begins A New Adventure... 


	10. Shocking Revelation

Disclaimer: All Anime Characters and concepts are the property of their respective creators. The same is true of any references that might be applied in this fanfiction. This is strictly a work of fanfiction and is by no means meant to be taken literally.  
  
Spoiler Warning: This fanfiction will definately include spoilers of events and characters that appear later on in these Anime Titles. Technically these characters have already appeared, they just haven't appeared in the English version of the series.  
  
------Shocking Revelation------  
  
It was already late into the afternoon when Crystal finally arrived at the Higurashi Shrine. The fact that Shiva wasn't far behind might have had something to do with what had slowed her down in arriving in the first place. This could have been further explained by the fact that Zapmon and Pichu were bringing up the rear.  
  
"Sorry I'm late, the peanut gallery insisted on following me," sweatdropped Crystal.  
  
Inuyasha blinked, "The what?"  
  
"Mmm...peanuts," said Shiva.  
  
Crystal sighed, "Nevermind. Let's go."  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
As soon as the group reached the place where they would set up camp, Crystal jumped up into a nearby tree and decided to take a nap. Coincidentally, Inuyasha had positioned himself in another three only a short distance away from the one Crystal was in and was also taking a nap.  
  
"We still have to set up camp you two," said Sango.  
  
Shiva seemed to be calculating something in his head, "Let them sleep, I'll take care of setting things up."  
  
"I'll help," added Miroku.  
  
Kagome said, "And we can get some firewood."  
  
Kagome and Sango went off in a random direction into the forest to get some firewood. Miroku and Shiva started setting up camp. Shippo, Zapmon and Pichu went about the task of catching fish from a nearby stream.  
  
"Do you notice anything unusually similar about those two?" asked Shiva.  
  
Miroku blinked, "Are you talking about Inuyasha and Crystal?"  
  
Shiva nodded, "It occurs to me that they do have a strikingly similar scent and they are in practically the same pose in those trees."  
  
"What are you getting at?" asked Miroku.  
  
"Isn't it obvious?" asked Shiva.  
  
"Not exactly," said Miroku.  
  
Shippo, Zapmon and Pichu came on over to the completed camp area with a large net filled with fish. Zapmon and Pichu had used the tactic that they could catch more fish if they zapped the river and it had certainly worked.  
  
"What's going on?" asked Zapmon.  
  
"Nothing," replied Shiva.  
  
"It sounded like you were talking about Crystal," said Zapmon.  
  
Shiva said, "Like I said, it was nothing."  
  
Zapmon shrugged and sat down under the tree that Crystal was still sleeping in. Kagome and Sango arrived carrying the firewood.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
"How can they sleep through dinner?!" demanded Zapmon who was on her 22nd fish.  
  
Shippo asked, "How can you eat so much?"  
  
"Alright, point taken," sweatdropped Zapmon.  
  
Shiva asked, "Am I the only one that is noticing this?"  
  
"Noticing what?" asked Kagome.  
  
Shiva was behaving in a manor that seemed to imply that he knew something that was so painfully obvious he couldn't quite remember what it was. Everyone who was awake and eating fish stared at him.  
  
"Nevermind," mumbled Shiva as he bit into another fish.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
"Does anyone else hear the sound of large wings flapping?" asked Shiva.  
  
Zapmon, Pichu and Shippo were sitting in a small circle underneath the tree that Crystal was still sleeping in. They were playing a game of Rock-Paper- Scissors.  
  
Kagome, Sango and Miroku looked up to see what Shiva could have been talking about. A large blue phoenix was flying through the air, coming right at their campsite. It was flapping its wings violently, causing intense blue flames to flash dangerously close to the trees.  
  
"No you don't!" exclaimed Crystal as she jumped from her tree very suddenly and lunged at the blue phoenix with the Dragon Blade.  
  
A wave of intense blue flames struck the blade of the sword and caused it to heat up rapidly. Crystal was forced to drop it when the hilt suddenly became to hot for her to touch. The dragon blade sank lightly into the ground down bellow, still glowing with intense heat. Crystal landed lightly on the ground a short distance away from hit, blowing on her hand to stop the burning feeling.  
  
"Kaze no Kizu!" came Inuyasha's voice as he slashed at the blue phoenix using the transformed Tetsusaiga. The attack connected and caused the blue phoenix to retreat back in the direction it had come from. Inuyasha sheathed the Tetsusaiga and landed lightly on the ground.  
  
[Cutting Wind, Windscar]  
  
Kagome asked, "Weren't you two sleeping?"  
  
"Up until about a minute ago, yes," replied Inuyasha.  
  
Crystal was looking at the Dragon Blade, "I guess it won't cool down until morning."  
  
"Well, I guess now is a good time to call it a night," said Kagome.  
  
Inuyasha and Crystal returned to their spots up in the trees. A series of sweatdrops went around as the other members of the group watched them.  
  
"I'm getting to the bottom of this right now!" shouted Shiva.  
  
A phonebook crashed down on Shiva's head.  
  
"I'm trying to sleep," mumbled Crystal.  
  
*~*~*~* Dream Sequence *~*~*~*  
  
The little kid version of Inuyasha was in the middle of a small clearing in a forest. For some absurd reason that he couldn't understand, a younger version of Sesshoumaru was there too. There was a clouded figure wielding a sword that looked remarkably like Crystal's sword, looking as though they were about to demonstrate something really interesting.  
  
Something was coming at the clouded figure from behind. Inuyasha was mentally shouting {Look out behind you!} although he wasn't exactly sure why that would work.  
  
The thing that was coming up behind the clouded figure was also thoroughly clouded. The clouded figure with the sword spun around and slashed the attacking clouded figure in half.  
  
Inuyasha found himself asking, "How did you know it was coming?"  
  
The clouded figured sheathed the sword that looked remarkably like the one that belonged to Crystal, "I'm not sure. I could feel it."  
  
If Inuyasha hadn't been stuck in the dream, he might have very well facevaulted at what happened next. Sesshoumaru was saying, "With proper training you could become a great warrior."  
  
"I'm better at the forming strategies than actually combat," replied the clouded figure.  
  
*~*~*~* Present *~*~*~*  
  
The sun started coming over the horizon.  
  
"I knew it! I knew it!" exclaimed Shiva as though he had just remembered what had been so remarkably obvious the night before and couldn't wait to announce it to the world. He failed to notice the glares that he was getting from the others who had been trying to sleep.  
  
Inuyasha sounded like he was still half-asleep, "Crystal, could you shut him up?"  
  
Crystal also sounded half-asleep, "Shiva, would you stop being so loud?"  
  
Shiva was on his feet, waving his arms up and down like he was about to say something incredibly important. He suddenly paused and whipped out a device that looked like a cell phone, except for the fact that words "Washu Tech" were written in big, bold letters on the casing. He openned the device and started speaking very quickly and excitedly so that only a person like Washu could understand anything he was trying to say.  
  
Shiva put the device away. A few seconds later, Washu appeared in the campsite beside him.  
  
"So, where are the victems for my DNA scan?" asked Washu.  
  
Shiva pointed at Inuyasha and Crystal who were still up in the trees. Both of them still weren't quite awake.  
  
Washu whipped out an odd device that looked exactly like a remote control to a very old TV. She pushed a series of buttons and pointed the device at Inuyasha and then repeated the process before pointing the device at Crystal. The device started beeping and humming frantically as lights started flashing from places there probably weren't even light bulbs.  
  
"Why does it have to be so noisy this early in the morning?" whined Crystal.  
  
"That thing is worse than my alarm clock," muttered Kagome.  
  
"What's an alarm clock?" asked Shippo.  
  
"A noisy device that wakes you up in the morning," replied Kagome.  
  
The device stopped flashing and making noise. This seemed to signal that whatever the device was finished with whatever it had been doing.  
  
"So, are you going to let us know what the results are?" asked Shiva.  
  
Washu put the device into her pocket, "Of course." Washu took a deep breath and started, "If the results of this DNA scan are correct, which they obviously are. After all, I am Washu the Greatest Scientific Genius in the Universe!"  
  
"Come on already," Shiva was practically begging.  
  
Washu continued, "If the results of this DNA scan are correct, then..."  
  
Washu paused dramatically.  
  
"Would you just say it already?!" demanded Shiva.  
  
Washu sighed, "Fine."  
  
"Good," said Shiva.  
  
"Crystal has found her long lost brother," concluded Washu.  
  
**Wham**  
  
Crystal was suddenly sprawled out underneath her tree. Fortunately, Zapmon and Pichu had gotten the sense to move before Washu started talking.  
  
*~*~*~* Flashback *~*~*~*  
  
The little kid version of Inuyasha was in the middle of a small clearing in a forest. For some absurd reason that he couldn't understand, a younger version of Sesshoumaru was there too. The little kid version of Crystal was there with the Dragon Blade as though she was about to demonstrate really interesting.  
  
Something was coming at the Crystal from behind. Inuyasha was mentally shouting {Look out behind you!} although he wasn't exactly sure why that would work.  
  
The thing that was coming up behind Crystal was thoroughly clouded. Crystal spun around and slashed the attacking clouded figure in half with the Dragon Blade.  
  
Inuyasha found himself asking, "How did you know it was coming?"  
  
Crystal sheathed the Dragon Blade, "I'm not sure. I could feel it."  
  
If Inuyasha hadn't been stuck in a flashback, he might have very well facevaulted at what happened next. Sesshoumaru was saying, "With proper training you could become a great warrior."  
  
"I'm better at the forming strategies than actually combat," replied Crystal.  
  
*~*~*~* Present *~*~*~*  
  
"Do you think Inuyasha heard you?" asked Kagome.  
  
**Wham**  
  
Inuyasha also crashed down to the ground.  
  
"I think that went well," said Washu before vanishing back to where she came from.  
  
Miroku said, "That was unexpected."  
  
"I knew it! I knew it!" exclaimed Shiva.  
  
"We heard you the first time," sweatdropped Sango.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
So Things Become More Interesting... 


	11. A World Appart

Disclaimer: All Anime Characters and concepts are the property of their respective creators. The same is true of any references that might be applied in this fanfiction. This is strictly a work of fanfiction and is by no means meant to be taken literally.  
  
Spoiler Warning: This fanfiction will definately include spoilers of events and characters that appear later on in these Anime Titles. Technically these characters have already appeared, they just haven't appeared in the English version of the series.  
  
Author's Notes: First, I'd like to thank Thorn, Lady Yami, Cat Silver, Shiva, and Sakura Joy for your continued support. Secondly, I'd like to apoligize for the long delay in getting this episode on the scene, as I've been sick for the last two weeks. I must warn you, I had a lot of time on my hands to plan out the chaos that your are about to experience!  
  
------Original Characters------  
  
Tyriel is a not-so-ordinary human being and also happens to be a childhood friend of Crystal's from back in California. He has been gifted/cursed with three conflicting forces within him, all of which switch control at one point or another which causes a great deal of confusion for those who are trying to deal with him. These forces are his human consciousness as Tyriel, a demonic being from the past called Xakis, and the angelic being from the past called Narcis. Little is known of how this came to be, but it is assumed that it would be very bad if one of these alternate powers were to suddenly take total control. All three of these characters belong to my friend Slade.  
  
------A World Appart------  
  
Mousse unleashed a barrage of chained daggers and an assortment of mini bombs in Lip's general direction. Lip in turn was still running away from the Amazon known as Shampoo. The boy was stopped in his tracks when he became wrapped up in the chains, narrowly avoiding being sliced by the daggers. The explosions and smoke from the mini bombs were making him dizzy and he was suddenly caught in a severe glomping from the Amazon.  
  
"LET GO OF ME!" exclaimed the reasonably frustrated Lip.  
  
"Why Lip run from Shampoo?" asked Shampoo innocently.  
  
"Why do ya think?!" growled Lip as he once again managed to break free of Shampoo's grasp and the chains that had been binding him. He took off running again, or at least that is what he was about to do when he was glomped again.  
  
"Shampoo!" shouted Mousse sounding overjoyed.  
  
Lip let out a sound that was definately not something a human could mimic. It was something like a roar, but much deeper and more aggressive as though it implied pain and suffering. In this case, the pain portion of this concept was definately true. Lip escaped from Mousse's glomp that had been meant for Shampoo, although he hadn't been wearing a certain pair of glasses and had made the severe mistake of glomping Lip instead. Lip pulled back his leg and struck Mousse, sending the near-sighted boy flying into a low orbit across Nerima.  
  
"Aiya!" Shampoo glomped Lip again to congradulate him for getting rid of Mousse so they could be alone.  
  
"Gr..." Lip growled before slipping out of Shampoo's grasp once again and taking flight. Up until now it appeared that he had forgotten that he could fly and then in remembering that he could, he did just that. Shampoo was left to watch as Lip vanished into the horizon.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Are you two planning to get up?" asked Miroku noting the fact that Inuyasha and Crystal hadn't moved since falling out of their respective trees at the revelation that they were actually siblings. He was about to ask again when neither of them reacted, but he was beaten to the punch.  
  
Shiva openned his mouth again, "Come on, it isn't THAT surprising."  
  
"Apparently it is to them," said Sango.  
  
Inuyasha and Crystal continued to remain sprawled out under their respective trees. Shippo siddled over by Inuyasha and poked him in the back with a stick. Inuyasha growled and bonked Shippo on the head before returning to his previous state of shock.  
  
"I think they're in shock," suggested Shippo.  
  
"Thank you for being the obvious one," grumbled Zapmon.  
  
Kagome asked, "How long do you suppose they're going to stay like that?"  
  
"It could be a while," noted Miroku.  
  
"That's right! I still have a score to settle with that overgrown flying turkey!" shouted Crystal suddenly moving from her spot on the ground. She grabbed the Dragon Blade from where it had rested since being overheated by the blue phoenix from the night before, sheathed it, and took off in a direction that looked like it had been chosen at random.  
  
Kagome, Sango, Miroku, Shippo, Shiva, Zapmon and Pichu blinked. Inuyasha was still sprawled out on the ground.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Somewhere outside of Tokyo, Ryoga Hibiki was making an attempt at getting back to the Tendo Dojo and wasn't having a lot of luck. He spotted a figure in the distance and decided that he would have to ask them for directions.  
  
Fortunately, Ryoga managed to head towards the figure instead of away from them.  
  
This guy looked roughly like Inuyasha's human form, aside from the obvious fact that he had short, dark brown hair and hazel eyes. All appearences indicated that he was definately a human and somewhere in his late teens. He looked like he could definately be a martial artist, and probably a strong one at that. Ryoga didn't seem to notice, as a combination of being in a rush to break Ranma's skull and exhaustion were definately getting the better of him.  
  
"Excuse me, but could you tell me how to get to Tokyo?" asked Ryoga.  
  
The person in question [Tyriel] blinked, obviously not having been expecting to run into anyone while taking the route through the forest that he had chosen to take, considering there wasn't even a trail. He himself was actually headed in the general direction of Tokyo. He replied in an even tone and pointed in the direction he was currently headed in, "Tokyo is this way."  
  
This seemed all well and good until Ryoga darted off in the exact opposite direction that Tyriel had been pointing in. Ryoga turned back and waved briefly, "Thank you!" before continuing in the wrong direction.  
  
Tyriel watch Ryoga as a sweatdrop rolled down the back of his head, "No sense of direction?" He shrugged and continued on his way. "Not my problem."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Does Crystal always go running into trouble?" asked Kagome from her spot on Inuyasha's back.  
  
Sango, Miroku and Shippo were riding on Kirara while Shiva decided to defy gravity and started flying himself. Pichu and Zapmon were traveling on either of Shiva's shoulders. Crystal was seriously fast when she wanted to be, and right now there was no visible sign of her.  
  
"That's Crystal for ya," replied Shiva.  
  
Shippo couldn't help saying, "Inuyasha and Crystal are DEFINATELY related."  
  
Inuyasha held back the urge to hit Shippo and kept heading in the direction Crystal had taken off in. From what he had been able to tell from the speed Crystal was moving, she was going recklessly fast until about a minute ago when she had probably caught up with her target.  
  
"There she is," said Miroku pointing to where Crystal was up in a tree, facing the blue phoenix from the night before.  
  
Upon closer inspection, Crystal was wielding a bow and an arrow. Everyone mentally agreed not to ask where she had gotten those from. Crystal was aiming carefully at the blue phoenix, looking like she hadn't done this for a while and was trying to make sure she was doing it right. Then she stated, "Gensou Konjou Inabikari!" and released the arrow which suddenly took on the form of a bolt of lightning.  
  
[Elemental Spirit of Lightning]  
  
"Uh...when did Crystal take archery lessons?" Shiva wondered aloud.  
  
The arrow burned up in the blue flames surrounding the blue phoenix, but the lightning took effect and zapped the beast.  
  
"There's a Shikon Aura coming from that thing," said Kagome.  
  
Inuyasha nearly lost his balance on the tree branch he had landed on, "What?!"  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"You finally managed to escape from Shampoo?" asked Ranma.  
  
Lip had escaped into Ucchan's Okonomiyaki, hoping that the Amazon wouldn't decide to follow him into the restaurant that belonged to one of her former rivals for Ranma. As it happened, Ranma was there hiding from Akane after having escaped from her attempt at breakfast.  
  
Ranma shuddered remembering the winged, green blob that had flied off of his plate when Akane brought breakfast in. He started on his okonomiyaki again while he waited for an answer from Lip.  
  
"Why the hell didn't you tell me this would happen if I beat you?!" growled Lip.  
  
"Er--it slipped my mind? I was hungry?" Ranma was trying to spare himself some pain. If he knew his rivals, Ryoga would be back to challenge him soon and he didn't feel like getting beaten up by Shiva's rival beforehand.  
  
Lip seemingly ignored him and started eating his own okonomiyaki. Ranma wasn't worth his time anyway, so Lip decided he would let the pigtailed boy live for the time being. That was when Mousse burst throug the door shouting, "SHAMPOO!"  
  
"Not again," groaned Lip as he jammed the rest of his okonomiyaki into his mouth, slammed some yen onto the counter and took off out the door.  
  
Ranma sweatdropped, "I don't think Shampoo is here Mousse."  
  
"You can't fool me my precious Shampoo," Mousse was moving towards Ranma.  
  
Ranma reflexively planted his foot in the middle of Mousse's face, "Mousse put on your glasses why don't ya!"  
  
"Huh? Saotome?" Mousse stepped back and reached into his robe to reveal his bottle-lensed glasses before putting them over his eyes. "What am I doing in Ucchan's Okonomiyaki, when I am certain was in the Neko-Hanten."  
  
Ranma raised an eyebrow, "Mousse you really should keep your glasses on. You almost glomped me."  
  
"Nevermind that Saotome, where is that Lip guy?" asked Mousse.  
  
Ranma sweatdropped, "He just left."  
  
Mousse bolted out the door.  
  
"That was unexpected," said Ukyo.  
  
"Definately," agreed Ranma.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Crystal had given up on the archery tactic and had somehow caused her bow to vanish before attempting to use any more arrows. She had regrouped with the others, but was still focused on dealing with the blue phoenix herself.  
  
"What made you take off like that?" asked Shiva ignoring the fact that they were in the middle of a battle.  
  
Crystal was preparing for another attack, "I could sense its aura expanding and decided I'd deal with it before it got too powerful, but I under- estimated just how bad it was. Still, I know I can handle this."  
  
"So she can't sense the Shikon Fragments?" asked Miroku.  
  
"Apparently not," replied Sango.  
  
Crystal jumped up into a new tree, "Pichu, let's give it a Thundershock!"  
  
Pichu scurried forward and used Agility to get itself up into a tree near the blue phoenix before launching himself into the air and sparkling with electricity, "Piiiichuuuu!" and unleashing the blast on the phoenix with little effect. As he started towards the ground, Crystal swooped in and caught him before jumping into another tree.  
  
"Well, you tried and you didn't shock yourself, so I think that was good for practice, now go stay by Zapmon while I handle this," said Crystal setting Pichu down on the tree branch. Pichu nodded and headed for where Zapmon was, a safe distance away from the battlefield.  
  
Something started to bother Inuyasha and he decided to make the fact known, "Crystal, why in the world aren't you transforming?!"  
  
Crystal remained in her spot in the tree, "I can handle this thing as I am." This was interesting considering her mind was screaming {I don't want to lose control of myself if I transform, so I'll do what I can without transforming.}  
  
"You shouldn't be afraid of your transformation. You've never lost control before, so what makes you think you will now?!" demanded Inuyasha.  
  
Crystal decided not to ask how Inuyasha had known exactly waht was going through her head. He was right though, she was acting like an idiot because of something that probably wouldn't happen. She clenched her fists as a barrage of blue flames came at her as the blue phoenix started flapping its wings madly.  
  
"Why is Inuyasha letting Crystal do the fighting?" asked Shippo.  
  
"He can tell that she wants to do this?" replied Kagome. "I have no idea."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"This doesn't look like Tokyo," said a confused Ryoga as he climbed the stairs to the Masaki Shrine. He had somehow managed to wander to Okayama while he was hopelessly lost.  
  
It so happened that Tenchi was returning from the fields with a fresh supply of carrots for Ryo-Ohki and spotted Ryoga, "You're that friend of Crystal's and Shiva's that gets lost a lot right?"  
  
Ryoga sweatdropped and rubbed the back of his head, "Er--that would be me. And yes, I am lost."  
  
"Where are you trying to go?" asked Tenchi.  
  
"Tokyo," replied Ryoga.  
  
Tenchi asked, "Would you like to stick around for lunch and see about having Washu teleport you back to Nerima?"  
  
"That would be nice," said Ryoga.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Crystal finally accepted the fact that she needed to use her demon powers to beat the blue phoenix as it was now and once again went through her transformation. Some claws and pointy ears later, she was jumping out of the tree she had been standing in and slashing the air horizontally while shouting, "Tsume Kaminari!" unleasing a barrage of electrical blades from her claws at the blue phoenix, dissolving it into dust while the Shikon Fragment floated lightly towards the ground.  
  
[Claws of Thunder]  
  
Crystal landed lightly on her feet and returned to normal, "I'm glad that's settled."  
  
"Can we eat now?" asked Shiva.  
  
There was an exchange of sweatdrops while Kagome went over and picked up the Shikon Fragment.  
  
"Why don't we head back to the village?" suggested Inuyasha.  
  
Kagome, Sango, Miroku and Shippo stared at Inuyasha.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Are you feeling sick?" asked Miroku.  
  
"Come to think of it, I should probably go back to the other era," said Crystal. "Shiva is less of a threat to the worlds food supply there."  
  
Shiva made a hurt sound, but Crystal ignored him. Zapmon nodded in agreement, "I must say, next time you go on one of these trips, you can't count me out. I much prefer being in your apartment."  
  
"Crystal, why haven't you decided to move into the Dojo? Ranma and Akane have invited you several times, right?" asked Shiva.  
  
"I don't want to impose," replied Crystal.  
  
"It isn't imposing when you are invited," explained Shiva.  
  
Sango said, "I guess it looks like we're heading back to the village."  
  
"Indeed," replied Miroku.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Crystal is near," said Tyriel in a dark voice that did not sound like the voice he had been using when he gave Ryoga directions earlier in the day.  
  
Tyriel shook his head and said in his normal voice, "Alright, now that we know where she is there is no reason to rush into reaching her. She isn't likely to go anywhere."  
  
"Fine," he grumbled in the dark voice before continuing on his way.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"And we're back," said Zapmon with a quiet sigh of relief. "I might be the Digimon of Time and Space, but I am not a big fan to time travel."  
  
Crystal concluded, "You're just upset because they didn't have pizza in the Feudal Era."  
  
Zapmon sweatdropped, "Speaking of which--do you think I could have some pizza now that we're back in this era?"  
  
"Uh Crystal?" asked Kagome.  
  
Crystal turned away from the dragon she had been speaking with, "What is it?"  
  
"Maybe you could stay here so you and Inuyasha can have some time to do a little catching up," replied Kagome.  
  
Crystal said, "If it's alright, then it sounds good to me."  
  
"You don't want to come back to the apartment?" asked Shiva.  
  
"It's my apartment," noted Crystal. "And I could care less about heading back to the crowded city right now."  
  
"I think being in the Feudal Era is giving Crystal ideas," said Zapmon.  
  
Pichu nodded, "Pichu."  
  
Crystal smirked, "Whatever. Anyway, Zapmon, you and Pichu make sure Shiva goes back to Nerima and doesn't try to bother me. You got that?"  
  
Zapmon nodded, "Sure thing."  
  
"Pichu!" nodded Pichu.  
  
"Is that how little you think of me?" Shiva asked sounding hurt again.  
  
"How can I put this? Yes!" replied Crystal. She reached into her pocket and removed her wallet, handing some of the contents to Zapmon. "Don't order more than you can eat and make sure Shiva gets back to Nerima."  
  
Zapmon nodded and gave Crystal an "ok" sign with her clawed hand. Crystal shrugged. This was good enough for her. With that Shiva left in the company of Zapmon and Pichu.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Ryoga was walking down the streets of Nerima, still unable to locate the Tendo Dojo. He had been teleported to Nerima District Park and now he was hopelessly lost again. He thought back to his conversation with Washu and sighed.  
  
*~*~*~* Flashback *~*~*~*  
  
Washu handed Ryoga a folded piece of paper. Ryoga blinked, "What's this?"  
  
"Just give that to Shiva. Tell him to read it aloud to the people mentioned in it when he sees them again if he wants some good laughs," replied Washu.  
  
Ryoga nodded absently, "Sure."  
  
"Alright, ready to teleport?" asked Washu.  
  
"As ready as I'll ever be," replied Ryoga.  
  
*~*~*~* Present *~*~*~*  
  
Ryoga sighed again, "How do I get to the Dojo now?"  
  
Ryoga was about to give up and call it a day by setting up his camping equipment where he was, which happened to be back at the park for the eighth time since being teleported. This was until he heard some familiar voices headed in his direction.  
  
"Get back here you bridenapper!" cried Mousse as he chased after Lip who had once again forgotten about flying altogether.  
  
Ryoga blinked, "Mousse, that isn't Ranma."  
  
Mousse paused briefly to consider this, "Haven't you heard, this guy beat Ranma and now Shampoo is with him."  
  
"He beat Ranma?" Ryoga stood there dumbstruck.  
  
Mousse took off after Lip again, "I don't have time to chat!"  
  
Ryoga blinked several times and just continued to stand there in shock.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Many explanations later, Kagome, Inuyasha and Crystal found themselves in the safety of Kagome's room. This would have been a lot more interesting of Inuyasha and Crystal would actually say something instead of being so quiet. This silence had been going on for the last fifteen minutes and needless to say, Kagome was starting to wonder if there was something wrong with the both of them.  
  
"Are you two just going to be like this the whole time you're here?" asked Kagome.  
  
Crystal blinked, "Be like what?"  
  
"Nothing, you two were just seemed like you two were getting too quiet," replied Kagome.  
  
Crystal sweatdropped, "I was testing out my theory on telepathic links and I guess we got a little carried away when it worked..."  
  
"What are you talking about?" Kagome was the confused one now.  
  
Inuyasha decided to answer, "We've been talking the whole time, just in our heads."  
  
Kagome blinked again, "Nevermind--what are we going to do now?"  
  
"I'd like some ramen," suggested Inuyasha.  
  
So much for keeping a low profile.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Shiva was walking around Nerima looking thoroughly bored. He had managed to convince Zapmon and Pichu that he wouldn't leave, and they in turn had returned to Crystal's apartment. Sometimes Nerima could seem so boring.  
  
It so happened that Shiva was walking through Nerima District Park. For this reason, Shiva was the first to find Ryoga after his initial shock at what Mousse had told him earlier.  
  
"What's wrong with you Ryoga?" Shiva asked.  
  
Ryoga finally snapped out of it, "Uh--when is it that Lip beat Ranma and ended up with Shampoo chasing him around?"  
  
"That was a few days ago as I recall," answered Shiva. "After the buffet incident."  
  
Ryoga nodded, "Alright then. I better get going so I can reach the Dojo in time."  
  
Shiva watched as Ryoga took off in a direction that definately didn't lead to the Tendo Dojo, but was unable to stop the eternally lost boy. Shiva shrugged and continued walking, hoping for something exciting to do when it hit him. If Lip was still in Nerima, the two of them could fight and Crystal wouldn't be around to stop them.  
  
"It's your own fault Crystal," Shiva said in a menacing tone before he broke into meniacal laughter. He traced Lip's aura and took off in that direction.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Crystal sneezed, "Someone must be talking about me..."  
  
"That's gonna cost ya," beamed Inuyasha.  
  
Kagome watched as Inuyasha and Crystal played a fierce round of Speed [the card game people] at a speed that was obviously beyond human. In fact, Kagome wondered how it was that she wasn't hearing a sonic boom every time one of them set down cards or picked up new ones. So far each game had ended in a draw and this had already gone on for a good seven rounds. Kagome was perfectly entertained just watching the two of them go at it and had no interest in joining in the game herself.  
  
"Don't think you've beaten me yet," countered Crystal.  
  
"Just watch me," replied Inuyasha.  
  
Kagome sighed, at least they weren't trying to kill each other.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The sky began to darken as Tyriel walked the streets of Nerima, finally nearing the Tendo Dojo that Ryoga had been trying so hard to reach, although he himself was not aware of this. He was looking for someone specific and that someone was Crystal. He could already sense that Crystal was not where he was headed, but that she would undoubtably end up there at a respectable time the following day and he would see about getting a place to spend the night.  
  
He arrived at the Dojo to find Ranma sparring in the backyard with Panda- san. Somehow the aspect of a human and a panda fighting didn't surprise him very much.  
  
"Crystal's fate has been sealed," said Tyriel in the dark voice from earlier.  
  
Tyriel snapped himself out of it, "Let's not draw unwanted attention to ourselves until we actually find Crystal."  
  
Ranma swore he just felt this new guys's aura shift for a second, but didn't have time to think about it further as he was sent sprawling into the Koi pond. Ranma-chan crawled out of the water and stated, "Hey old man, we've got a visitor here."  
  
Tyriel was reasonably surprised by the sudden boy to girl transformation that had suddenly occured with Ranma. He didn't have much time to think about this as the panda from before held up a sign that read "Greetings stranger. What can we help you with?"  
  
Alright, there was definately something odd about this Nerima place. No wonder Crystal had decided to come here. Tyriel decided that being surprised wasn't going to get him anywhere and that he should probably just get strait to the point.  
  
"My name is Tyriel and I am looking for someone named Crystal," explained Tyriel. "I've heard that she lives around here."  
  
The panda turned the sign around "That would be correct."  
  
Ranma decided to take over, "She isn't around right now though. She went on a little trip and no one is sure when she is coming back."  
  
"I see," said Tyriel. "Then I'll just have to find someplace to stay and wait for her."  
  
Ranma suggested, "I think it would be alright for you to wait here at the Dojo for her. Odds are she'll turn up here eventually; she always does."  
  
"I'd appreciate that," replied Tyriel.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Are ya getting slow Inuyasha?" Crystal seemed to be getting better at the card game. Then she noticed something else that had changed aside from Inuyasha's speed, "Don't tell me, it's that time of month again?"  
  
Inuyasha blinked, having seemingly forgotten that it had been that very event that had caused him to suggest returning to the village during the afternoon. He stood up and walked over to the mirror. Inuyasha saw black and dived under Kagome's bed.  
  
"I thought so," said Crystal.  
  
Kagome looked somewhat surprised, "I totally forgot that tonight was the first night of the New Moon."  
  
"I think most of us did," replied Crystal.  
  
A knock sounded on Kagome's door. Inuyasha basically froze underneath Kagome's bed. Crystal remained where she was, sitting cross-legged on the floor. Kagome got up and openned the door to find Souta standing outside.  
  
"What's with all the noise? Some of us are getting ready for bed," asked Souta.  
  
Kagome sweatdropped, "It's nothing--Inuyasha and Crystal just finished playing cards."  
  
"Really? Can I play?" asked Souta.  
  
"Weren't you going to bed?" Kagome countered.  
  
"That's right. I forgot."  
  
A few seconds later, Souta was gone and a level of peacefulness returned to Kagome's room. Inuyasha was still hiding under Kagome's bed.  
  
"Are you just going to stay under there?" asked Kagome.  
  
"I don't need anyone else seeing me like this," replied Inuyasha.  
  
The sound of something crashing outside caused Crystal to bolt for the window, which she openned and jumped out of all in the course of a few seconds. Kagome ran over to see what was going on.  
  
What appeared to be an evil snowman riding a blender was flying around outside creating a rather destructive looking blizzard. This was further complicated by the fact that he had taken to hurling large snowballs at the ground and was already aiming one at Crystal, who had chosen to interfere in his fun.  
  
The snowball came smashing towards Crystal, but she merely cupped her hands in a blast position and shouted, "Gensou Konjou Hinote!" unleashing a blast of flames on the snowball, melting it into harmlessness.  
  
[Elemental Spirit of Fire]  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Shiva and Lip looked like they had probably been fighting the entire afternoon once Shiva had managed to locate Lip and distract Mousse long enough to get away from him. It seemed like they were getting ready for one final attack wave before calling the fight a draw.  
  
"Ka-me," Lip started charging the energy into his hands.  
  
Shiva moved in for the kill, "Hadouken!" and unleashed a blast that sent Lip reeling backwards across the sky.  
  
[Fireball]  
  
Lip recovered and scowled at Shiva, "That's not fair!"  
  
"You were taking too long," replied Shiva with a smirk. "That means that dinner is on you."  
  
Lip's scowl changed into a frown combined with a severe glare.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Inuyasha, aren't you going to go out there and help Crystal?" asked Kagome before returning to the window in time to see Crystal get sent sprawling backwards by a barrage of icicles.  
  
Inuyasha replied from his spot under Kagome's bed, "Not happening, 'sides Crystal can handle this herself."  
  
A small cut formed on Crystal's cheek and her clothes looked somewhat torn from the razor-sharpness of the icicles, but she was otherwise unharmed. Crystal got to her feet and smirked at the demonic snowman blender thing she was fighting against.  
  
"You're pretty good, but this has gone on long enough," stated Crystal.  
  
Another large snowball came flying towards Crystal. She suddenly converted to her form that allowed to tap into the full strength of her demonic powers and drew the Dragon Blade. The blade began to glow a faint metallic purple color as her aura shifted to match the aura of the sword. She continued to smirk at the demon in question and slashed the air horizontally while shouting, "Ryuu Douryokuha!" and unleashed a barrage of metallic purple energy blades on the blender that the snowman happened to be riding around on.  
  
[Dragon Power Blade]  
  
The demon dissolved into dust and the artificial snowstorm it had brought with it faded out and the fake snow melted into nothing. Crystal sheathed the Dragon Blade [also returning to her original form in the process] and would have landed lightly on the ground, if not for the fact that she had forgotten to deal with the giant snowball that had been hurled at her before her attack. Before vanishing, it smashed into her and sent her flying towards the ground with an unexpected amount of force.  
  
"She still has a lot to learn," stated Inuyasha.  
  
Kagome said from the window, "Interesting how she can be so tough in battle and get hit by one giant snowball and get knocked out so fast."  
  
"Interesting is right, I'll have to ask her about that," sweatdropped Inuyasha.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The figure that had been in the air had definately looked like Crystal. The last time he had seen Crystal though, she definately didn't have pointy ears or what Ryoga was convinced looked like claws from what he could make out in the night sky. She had also performed some sort of attack with that sword of hers that he definately wasn't familiar with.  
  
One thing in all of this really bothered him though. He definately wasn't anywhere near the Tendo Dojo and had been trying to find it the entire day.  
  
When he had spotted Crystal, Ryoga had hoped to ask for directions, but now he had lost track of her and wasn't sure where he was headed. He sighed, "Where am I now?"  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Another Day Ends... 


	12. Good Guys Don't Always Win

Disclaimer: All Anime Characters and concepts are the property of their respective creators. The same is true of any references that might be applied in this fanfiction. This is strictly a work of fanfiction and is by no means meant to be taken literally.  
  
Spoiler Warning: This fanfiction will definately include spoilers of events and characters that appear later on in these Anime Titles. Technically these characters have already appeared, they just haven't appeared in the English version of the series.  
  
------Good Guys Don't Always Win------  
  
The night passed without any further disturbance by demonic blenders. When the sun rose the following morning there had been some brief confusion on Crystal's part about why she had such a big headache. This lasted until she realized that it was because of being pummeled by an insanely large ball of snow the defeat of the evil blender. Inuyasha was thrilled to have his demon powers back and didn't seem to care who knew it.  
  
This had been several hours ago. In the meantime, Inuyasha and Kagome had decided to travel back to Nerima with Crystal. By the time it was time to eat breakfast, the three of them had arrived at the Neko-Hanten. There was one very good reason for this. This reason was simple: Inuyasha wanted ramen.  
  
Kagome cringed. She knew Inuyasha liked ramen. She knew that Crystal seemed indifferent about having ramen for dinner and then having it again for breakfast the next morning. Even knowing these things, Kagome was determined to find something else that Inuyasha would like so he didn't always have to eat the same thing.  
  
"Alright, so explain again why you can put up a fight for as long as you did last night and then get knocked out by an oversized snowball?" said Inuyasha between slurps of his ramen.  
  
Kagome cringed again. Inuyasha was on his fifth bowl.  
  
"I told you this morning, I have no idea why that happened," replied Crystal. She also spoke between slurping ramen.  
  
Kagome cringed a third time. Crystal was on her third bowl.  
  
"Kagome, are you alright?" asked Inuyasha.  
  
Kagome sweatdropped, "I'm fine." She shook herself out of the line of thought she had been going through that somehow involved ramen and a flamethrower.  
  
"Are you sure?" asked Inuyasha. "You keep shuddering."  
  
Kagome continued to sweatdrop, "It's nothing." She nodded to herself. She could handle this. "Really, I'm just fine."  
  
Inuyasha spoke again and pointed to the untouched bowl of ramen in front of Kagome, "Are you going to eat that?"  
  
"Sit boy," stated Kagome before starting on her ramen.  
  
**Wham**  
  
Inuyasha hit the floor, fortunately missing the table in the process. He growled up at Kagome, "What was that for?!"  
  
"What kind of question was that? I have to eat breakfast too if I'm going to keep up with the two of you in Nerima," replied Kagome indifferently.  
  
Inuyasha scowled at her, but it was a lost cause from where he was located on the floor. She couldn't see the expression on his face anyway.  
  
Inuyasha corrected his position and started eating his ramen again, continually glaring across the table at Kagome. Kagome merely smiled innocently which caused him to completely forget why he was angry with her and to nearly spill his ramen all over the table. Kagome and Crystal both started giggling at Inuyasha's awkwardness. Inuyasha glared at both of them.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Come on, what's so bad about the Neko-Hanten?" asked Shiva.  
  
"She's there!" replied Lip as though it was the most incredibly obvious thing in the world and Shiva was the biggest idiot for not being able to guess this had been the reason from the beginning. Shiva didn't seem to notice the implications of this statement, or if he did, he pretended not to.  
  
"You must be talking about Shampoo," grinned Shiva. "Why else do you think I'd want you to come with me to the Neko-Hanten?"  
  
Lip's expression darkened several shades, "You free-loading, idiotic excuse for a warrior! I can't believe you!" He was obviously still upset about the "Hadouken" incident the previous afternoon.  
  
"How else do you expect me to get free food?" asked Shiva.  
  
Lip's expression darkened even more as he glared fiercely at Shiva, "Leave me the hell alone!"  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
When Inuyasha, Kagome and Crystal arrived at the Tendo Dojo, the usual morning routine was well on the way. Ranma and Genma were in the backyard performing the early morning work-out. Kasumi was in the kitchen making breakfast for the rest of the family and the three house-guests. Tyriel was located in a corner of the yard watching Ranma and Genma battle each other with little real interest in the matter.  
  
"Why didn't we go back to your apartment?" asked Inuyasha curiously.  
  
"I'm not entirely sure, but for some reason I felt drawn in this direction," replied Crystal.  
  
Tyriel looked up from the corner. His features suddenly amplified and his eyes turned green, becoming slitted and demonic looking. His hair turned black and became shoulder length all the way around, even in the front. The last part of this transformation was the leathery, demonic wings that had shot out of his shoulder blades.  
  
"Long time no see, wouldn't you say Crystal?" asked Xakis.  
  
Crystal's expression shifted between confusion to recognition, to absolute terror. She still managed to find her voice to respond, "Not long enough, what did you do with Tyriel?"  
  
"He's still in here," replied Xakis. "Although I do believe it is vital that I finish the task of killing you here and now before he catches on to my plans."  
  
Tyriel's voice came next, "A little late for that."  
  
He returned to normal and shook his head, "That was close."  
  
"Too close," stated Crystal. "How about explaining what you're doing in Nerima."  
  
Inuyasha, Kagome, Ranma and Genma had been watching this exchange for the last two minutes. They all blinked.  
  
"An openning!" Genma kicked Ranma into the Koi pond.  
  
Ranma-chan leapt out of the pond and grabbed a bucket from somewhere, filling it with water as she lunged at Genma. She hurled the contents of the bucket on her father, who instantly turned into his panda form.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Ryoga marched bitterly through yet another forest that he couldn't rightly identify from appearences. For all he knew, it was the same forest he had been walking through several hours earlier. Perhaps he was marching in one very big circle that was not particularly interested in directing him back to the Tendo Dojo, and Akane.  
  
To that end, Ryoga wasn't even sure which direction Tokyo was in from his current position, but he imagined that he probably wasn't headed in the correct direction anyway. It wasn't like it mattered. He would get there when he got there. It was highly unlikely that Ranma and Akane would become involved in a successful relationship while he was gone, but there was always his seemingly endless supply of bad luck to contend with.  
  
"Ranma Saotome! You better not do anything to upset Akane!" Ryoga was satisfied with his shout.  
  
Ryoga suddenly came out of the long stretch of forest and came to a street. There was a sign across the way that read "Tokyo" with an arrow pointing to the right. Ryoga started walking towards the left.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
While the inhabitants of the Tendo Household ate breakfast, Crystal listened to Tyriel's explanation of why he had come to Japan in the first place. This basically consisted of Xakis sensed your presense and insisted on following it to your location to finish the task of killing you. Inuyasha was eating an instant ramen cup and Kagome was thinking about how that very ramen cup would make a good target for some archery practice.  
  
"So basically, that demon that lives inside you wants to kill me," concluded Crystal. "Why am I not surprised?"  
  
Tyriel shrugged, "I could say the same about your choice of living environments. This place is probably chaotic enough to handle you."  
  
"I'd like to think so," replied Crystal.  
  
Inuyasha couldn't help saying, "And this guy is your friend?"  
  
"It isn't his fault he's got a demon that wants to kill me inside him," replied Crystal sounding indifferent.  
  
Inuyasha was suddenly reminded of Sesshoumaru and the idea made him cringe. The thought passed and he returned to eating his ramen.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
"What exactly is okonomiyaki?" asked Inuyasha.  
  
"Trust me, you'll like it," replied Ranma.  
  
Ranma had suggested lunch at Ucchan's. This had resulted in himself, Akane, Inuyasha, Kagome, Crystal and Tyriel all deciding that was a good idea. Kagome mentally noted that okonomiyaki was not ramen.  
  
"Hiya Ran-chan," Ukyo waved cheerfully from behind the counter.  
  
Konatsu appeared in front of the group, "Are you going to sit at the counter or should I prepare a table for all of you."  
  
"I think a table would be a good idea," said Akane.  
  
Inuyasha asked again, "What is okonomiyaki?"  
  
"You'll like it," replied Ranma again.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
In the depths of the Dark Net Ocean, the world that has a striking likeness to a negative photograph was a fortress of some kind. Within this fortress was the infamous Warmon, scheming something involving Crystal's destruction as usual. This was perfectly normal.  
  
"She's had it way too easy today," cackled the evil digimon in such a way that it sounded like it would be followed by a scene change.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Upon arriving at the Dojo, the group was shocked to see something that appeared to be very similar to Dukemon [Gallantmon] from Digimon Tamers. The obvious difference was the fact that this one's armor consisted of a black and gold color pattern instead of red and white. This one also looked quite menacing and it was generating a dark aura that anyone with at least some training would have noticed in a heartbeat.  
  
Crystal reflexively whipped out the D-storm from her pocket and scrolled through the data that popped up on the digimon that was looming before her. She looked between the data and the digimon and decided to confirm what she was reading. What she said was this, "The Dark Knight, Chaos Dukemon?"  
  
In response to Crystal's question, the digimon that was indeed Chaos Dukemon lunged forward with its mighty lance and stated, "Judecca Prison!" and shot off a powerful burst of what resembled black lightning. Crystal dived out of the way and a large, smoldering hole was formed where she had been standing.  
  
"I get the feeling this monster is a lot more dangerous than the one that appeared at Furinkan," said Akane.  
  
Ranma nodded, "Definately."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Zapmon ran down the streets of Nerima, not caring how many humans spotted her. Crystal was in danger and she had to get to her. She had to protect her from whatever it was that was putting her in danger.  
  
Zapmon felt a familiar power begin to swell inside of her. Piercing rays of light began to shine through her digital form and the familiar sensation of evolution took over. Zapmon went with it and shouted, "Zapmon Digivolve To..." as her form was engulfed in the bright light.  
  
Zapmon took on a form that looked remarkably like Ex Veemon. Her color pattern took on a brilliant silver where Ex Veemon would have been blue and her eyes shifted to an electric blue color. Her claws turned golden and her wings shifted to black. Her new form shouted, "Matrix Zapdramon!"  
  
The evolution was not over however. Matrix Zapdramon felt a continued swelling of power and continued to glow brightly. In her new form she shouted, "Matrix Zapdramon Digivolve To..." and her form began shifting again. Her right hand and the lower section of that same arm became a blaster cannon. The upper section of the left side of her face, over her left eye became covered by a metallic mask. In her newest form she shouted, "Denryokumon!"  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Crystal had positioned on her roof and was barely managing to deflect Chaos Dukemon's attacks. She was determined to defend the others from what was really only her problem. She was really starting to wonder if Zapmon really had a telepathic connection to her or not, because she really needed a little back up about this time.  
  
Chaos Dukemon was charging power into his massive, circular shield. He easily finished this task and shouted, "Demon's Disaster!" which resulted in a massive, dark power beam shooting down at the group of on-lookers.  
  
Crystal got ahead of the blast and held her hands out in front of her, "Shouheki!" forming an energy shield that managed to deflect the blast from hitting the others. Inuyasha would have been helping, but he was in too much shock to move at the moment. The same was true of the others for that matter.  
  
[Barrier]  
  
Crystal returned to her place on the roof and prepared for the next attack that was bound to come from Chaos Dukemon. She was not about to let him harm her friends. He came towards her, lunging at her with his lance that was crackling with the dark electricity. She didn't have the power to form another barrier.  
  
"Crystal!" shouted two voices from very different locations.  
  
The blade went right through her and then was pulled back by Chaos Dukemon, letting Crystal drop from the roof, heading for the ground that was quickly moving upward. She didn't hit the ground though. Inuyasha managed to catch her in time, but by then she was unconscious. This was not surprising considering she had just been impaled by an electrified lance.  
  
Denryokumon came in behind Chaos Dukemon and planted a kick into the center of the digimon's back. This didn't actually hurt the Mega level digimon, but it did change the center of his attention. Denryokumon snarled at Chaos Dukemon as she pointed her cannon at the digimon and shouted, "Silver Shooter!" which resulted in a barrage of silver energy shots flying from the cannon and nailing Chaos Dukemon from point blank range.  
  
Chaos Dukemon was a little taken aback by the display of power, but remained calm. He seemed to be mocking Denryokumon, "I'll deal with you and your pathetic excuse for a human later." A portal began to form above Chaos Dukemon.  
  
Inuyasha set Crystal down by the others and drew the transform Tetsusaiga, swinging it fiercely at Chaos Dukemon, "Kaze no Kizu!" unleashing a massive wave of power.  
  
[Cutting Wind, Windscar]  
  
It struck Chaos Dukemon from behind and managed to crack his armor before he vanished the through the portal in the sky. The portal closed and the evil digimon was gone.  
  
Denryokumon landed on the ground and de-evolved back into Zapmon. The little dragon walked over to where Crystal was laying unconscious.  
  
"She's in really bad shape," noted Ranma.  
  
Zapmon nodded, "I'll transfer some of my power to make her injury less serious, but I can't fix her up completely."  
  
The dragon held out a scaled hand that seemed to glow with a mysterious silver light that flowed over Crystal. Crystal's wound began to close visibly and got to the point where it was no longer life threatening and then stopped. Zapmon began to glow and then shrank in size.  
  
Zapmon took on a form that closely resembled Demi Veemon, but like her form as Zapmon she was black where Demi Veemon would have been blue, had a silver and gold stripe patten on her scales and had emerald green eyes. The little digimon shook itself a little, "She'll be out for a while, but she'll live."  
  
"What should we call you now?" asked Ranma.  
  
The little digimon replied, "Call me Psycmon."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The Trouble Only Now Begins... 


	13. A New Perspective

Disclaimer: All Anime Characters and concepts are the property of their respective creators. The same is true of any references that might be applied in this fanfiction. This is strictly a work of fanfiction and is by no means meant to be taken literally.  
  
Spoiler Warning: This fanfiction will definately include spoilers of events and characters that appear later on in these Anime Titles. Technically these characters have already appeared, they just haven't appeared in the English version of the series.  
  
------A New Perspective------  
  
Crystal was laying on the ground unconscious. She was still seriously injured, although she would live, it was unclear whether she would make a full recovery or not. Not five minutes passed before Shiva arrived on the scene, which was still the Tendo Dojo.  
  
"What were those power surges?! What happened to Crystal?! Someone answer me!"  
  
Ranma shrugged, "Maybe we should sit down while the girls do something about bandaging Crystal up. I somehow doubt this would be easy to explain to Tofu-sensei."  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
"Well, she should be alright now," said Akane entering the dinning room from the backyard.  
  
Crystal had been bandaged up and was currently sleeping on a spare futon on the Dojo. So far there had been no sign that she would wake up any time soon, but it was probably better for her to rest anyway.  
  
"Are you sure?" asked Shiva.  
  
Akane nodded confirmation, "She'll be fine. Inuyasha insisted on staying in the Dojo to keep an eye on her and of course Kagome is with him."  
  
"It's almost sunset," noted Tyriel. "Perhaps we should think about getting something to eat."  
  
"I'll make dinner," volunteered Akane.  
  
"No!" shouted several sane voices.  
  
"Yes!" shouted one insane voice.  
  
All eyes went to Shiva.  
  
"What?"  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
After the little incident with Chaos Dukemon in the afternoon, Genma Saotome and Soun Tendo had up and left on what they called a "training trip" to escape any further monster attacks. With this being the case, there was no real adult supervision in the Tendo House or Dojo, and yet things seemed to be going perfectly well for the assortment of teenagers that had taken to being there during the course of the afternoon and evening.  
  
Ranma, Akane, Nabiki and Shiva were sitting around the table in the dinning room. Tyriel or rather Xakis was looming in the corner indifferently, occasionally gazing out to the Dojo where Crystal was perfectly helpless.  
  
"And that guy is Crystal's friend?" asked Shiva disbelievingly.  
  
"Yes," confirmed Nabiki.  
  
"She has weirder people following her around than I do," said Ranma.  
  
Akane hit Ranma over the head with the usual mallet, "And here you were doing such a good job of keeping your foot out of your mouth this evening."  
  
"I still can't believe we managed to pull this off," noted Nabiki. "Who's idea was it to make a second floor for the Dojo and put in guest rooms?"  
  
Ranma shrugged, "I just thought it was a good idea and besides, we have more than enough guests dropping by regularly."  
  
"Crystal's going to be surprised to find all her stuff in that room," noted Shiva.  
  
"Did you file the report that she is leaving her apartment?" asked Akane.  
  
Shiva nodded, "All taken care of."  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
A little later, Shiva and Tyriel headed to the Dojo to set up their own sleeping arrangements. Crystal was in what would be her new room, but had not yet regained consciousness since the afternoon attack.  
  
The lower level of the Dojo consisted of the initial Dojo with all the training equipment and various weapons. To the side, in a separate room was a living room with a couch and a set of chairs along the wall with a full entertainment system along the opposite wall. There was a table in the middle of the room and off to the side was a small kicthen area.  
  
The upstairs area basically led to a hallway with doors along the sides that led to the guest rooms, one of which already had a nameplate for Crystal on it and a final doorway at the end that led to the bathroom. Shiva had already decided he would claim one of the others rooms for his own, but for now he was going to train in the Dojo for a little while.  
  
Tyriel decided to crash on the couch since he wasn't sure how long he would be staying anyway.  
  
"Bakusai Tenketsu!" came the familiar sound of Ryoga's voice combined with the sounds of a wall being smashed through.  
  
[Breaking Point]  
  
Shiva looked out into the yard and spotted Ryoga, "Ryoga do you have to damage property whenver you get lost?"  
  
"I finally made it to the Dojo!" shouted Ryoga loudly.  
  
A boot flew out of Akane's window, which shattered in the process, and smacked into Ryoga's forehead, sending him sprawling into the pond. Shiva shook his head and picked up the small black piglet that was Ryoga's cursed form.  
  
"I'll get you some hot water."  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
Ryoga had given Shiva the slip of paper from Washu, which he had fished out of his clothing. Washu had used some kind of ink that didn't smeer, and Shiva nearly fell off of the chair he was sitting on when he read the paper over. He read it again and this time he did fall off of the chair. Tyriel continued to sleep peacefully.  
  
"I'm decended from Miroku and Sango!" Shiva exclaimed as tears of laughter formed in his eyes.  
  
Ryoga didn't understand what was so funny, but he imagined that Shiva was somehow familiar with the people in the message. Ryoga remembered the other thing that Washu had told him and spoke up, "Washu said you should tell the people on the paper about it."  
  
"And cause a time paradox? I don't think so," stated Shiva returning to himself.  
  
Ryoga shrugged, "Whatever."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Inuyasha had finally fallen asleep at some point before the sun started rising into the sky. Kagome had fallen asleep sometime before then. Crystal was still sleeping, but as Psycmon had pointed out, she would live.  
  
Psycmon and Pichu were nowhere to be found within the confines of the Tendo Residence. If anyone had been awake to notice, this wouldn't have surprised them. The fact that Akane was making breakfast did not count.  
  
**Stench**  
  
"Gah!" Inuyasha woke up to a smell that was incredibly unpleasant. "What's that smell?! It smells like Miroku's old sock!"  
  
Kagome openned her eyes groggily, "Inuyasha do you even know what socks are?"  
  
"Yes," answered Inuyasha.  
  
"Does Miroku wear them?" asked Kagome.  
  
"When he comes into this era he does," replied Inuyasha.  
  
Kagome blinked, "Miroku has not been in this era."  
  
"He will though," noted Inuyasha.  
  
"Sit," stated Kagome.  
  
**Wham**  
  
"What was that for?" asked Inuyasha from the floor.  
  
"You were giving away the story," replied Kagome.  
  
"Oh," sweatdropped Inuyasha.  
  
Tyriel poked his head in the door, "I hope that's not breakfast."  
  
"What Akane is cooking up in the kitchen or the socks?" asked Kagome.  
  
"Er--both," answered Tyriel, "although right now I'm more concerned about what is in the kitchen."  
  
Tyriel turned around in the hallway to see Akane with a crimson aura surrounding her and a mallet in her hand. He blinked before saying, "Weren't you in the kitchen?"  
  
"Uh-oh," even Inuyasha could guess what that crimson aura and mallet meant. "Tyriel, you should run. Now."  
  
Tyriel nodded, "I was thinking the same thing."  
  
He bolted down the hallway, towards the stairs to avoid Akane's wrath. She chased after him, mallet in hand.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
Breakfast consisted of take-out okonomiyaki after Ranma had managed to drag Akane out of the kitchen. This had resulted in getting thrown into the pond and going female again, but at least she was safe from that so-called "food".  
  
"Is Crystal supposed to be outside?" asked Ranma.  
  
Tyriel replied, "She was upstairs, in the Dojo, sleeping."  
  
"Actually, she's sitting in the tree outside," said Ranma.  
  
Shiva sounded something like a mother hen as he shouted, "CRYSTAL YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE RESTING!"  
  
"I am resting," replied Crystal quietly.  
  
"You should be in bed!" exclaimed Shiva.  
  
"I'm more comfortable up here," replied Crystal.  
  
"You're still bleeding!" exclaimed Shiva.  
  
"So?" Crystal shrugged.  
  
A few minutes later Crystal was unconscious again, still up in the tree. She wasn't actually bleeding, but Shiva thought it would make a good argument.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
A little later in the afternoon, Crystal was almost completely healed. Kagome and Akane dragged her away from her game of Chrono Cross and to the dinning room table inside the house. Crystal wasn't sure why, but something about this made her nervous.  
  
"Crystal all of your clothing is torn and at least a size too small for you," started Akane.  
  
"And it all smells like blood," added Inuyasha from the doorway.  
  
Kagome continued, "When was the last time you got new clothes?"  
  
Crystal blinked and started counting backwards on her fingers, "I guess it has been a while. I didn't go shopping regularly when I was training before I settled in Nerima and I really haven't gotten around to it here. I don't know."  
  
"We're taking you to the mall!" stated Akane and Kagome at the same time.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Let the Games Begin... 


	14. A New Look

Disclaimer: All Anime Characters and concepts are the property of their respective creators. The same is true of any references that might be applied in this fanfiction. This is strictly a work of fanfiction and is by no means meant to be taken literally.  
  
Spoiler Warning: This fanfiction will definately include spoilers of events and characters that appear later on in these Anime Titles. Technically these characters have already appeared, they just haven't appeared in the English version of the series.  
  
Author's Notes: Episode thirteen has a small revision that makes it seem a little more comical than it originally was. There is also a small reference to Cardcaptor Sakura in this episode.  
  
------A New Look------  
  
"What?!" Crystal nearly fell over.  
  
Akane decided to come right to the point, "You need new clothes, which means we are going to take you to the mall to make sure you get them."  
  
"What's wrong with her clothes?" asked Inuyasha.  
  
"Let's see, they're all ripped up and they smell like blood," replied Kagome. "That generally means it is time to get new ones."  
  
"Oh?" Inuyasha looked confused.  
  
Crystal looked like she wanted to scream.  
  
"We are going to the mall, and that is final," stated Akane.  
  
Crystal was contemplating running off to the park to hide. Inuyasha wasn't entirely sure why those were reasons to get new clothes, but he also wasn't certain why Crystal thought it was so horrible to go to this mall place either.  
  
"Come to think of it," Kagome turned to Inuyasha, "you could use a change of clothes to wear in this era."  
  
"Huh?" Inuyasha blinked.  
  
"I'm so out of here!" Crystal bolted for the wall surrounding the yard, but forgot about the section of wall that was missing due to Ryoga's Bakusai Tenketsu the night before and missed the wall completely.  
  
"Crystal, what is so bad about the mall?" asked Inuyasha.  
  
"It isn't the mall I'm worried about," Crystal stood up.  
  
Inuyasha blinked, "What does that mean?"  
  
Crystal shook her head, "You'll find out soon enough."  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
"I know you wanted Inuyasha and I to find clothes, but why did EVERYONE have to come with us?!" exclaimed Crystal. The sound echoed along the walls and Inuyasha covered his ears.  
  
"Could you be a little more quiet when you yell?" asked Inuyasha.  
  
Kagome, Inuyasha, Akane, Ranma, Ryoga, Nabiki, Crystal, Shiva, Lip, Tyriel, Psycmon and Pichu were all standing in the entrance to the mall. Not everyone was there for clothes, but they had all come as a group none-the- less.  
  
Kagome and Akane literally dragged Crystal to the nearest clothing store while Inuyasha shrugged and followed them. Ranma and Ryoga headed into a martial arts equipment store to get some supplies for the Dojo, although Ranma was not entirely sure why Ryoga had anything to do with that. Nabiki was setting up a gambling booth outside of the arcade, involving something about how many of the machines Lip would get a high score on. Lip in turn was inside of the arcade. Shiva, Psycmon and Pichu were making use of the Food Court, which was soon to be lacking in one serious part of its title. Tyriel seemingly drifted into the shadows by the entrance.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
"What's wrong with this one?" asked Akane.  
  
"I can't tell if it's supposed to be pink or purple," stated Crystal folding her arms in front of her.  
  
"It's violet," sweatdropped Kagome.  
  
Crystal shrugged, "Whatever. The fact is, that is NOT my color."  
  
"Alright then, why don't you pick out some clothes for yourself?" asked Akane.  
  
"You trust my fashion sense?" Crystal looked surprised.  
  
"Inuyasha needs our help a lot more than you do," replied Kagome.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Ryoga, do you really think it's a good idea for us to ask Shiva for lessons?" asked Ranma.  
  
"He is definately at a much higher level than us, and he seems to know a thing or two about teaching others what he knows," Ryoga pointed out. "He wouldn't be teaching physics at Furinkan if he couldn't teach and he knows more about martial arts than just about anything else."  
  
"I guess so," said Ranma.  
  
Ryoga added, "Let's just hope his training methods are less dangerous than the ones that dirty old man puts you through."  
  
"Why are you asking for lessons anyway? It isn't like you're inheriting a Dojo or anything," asked Ranma.  
  
"Like I'd let you get ahead of me," replied Ryoga. "One of these days I will be the one to beat you."  
  
"You can try," Ranma smirked.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
~I'm glad I guessed right~ thought Nabiki. ~Lip really is THAT good at video games.~  
  
Lip had practically gotten the high score on every machine in the arcade and he was still going at it. Nabiki's little gambling booth wasn't doing too badly at all. Maybe Nabiki would use Lip as a gambling device more often in the future.  
  
Lip was oblivious to any of this as he continued to rack up the points.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Shiva, I thought you said that after your training you didn't have to eat as much anymore," noted Psycmon.  
  
"Just because I don't have to doesn't mean I won't. I happen to like eating," stated Shiva.  
  
"Pi pi chu," added Pichu.  
  
"Who is Kero?" asked Shiva.  
  
"Pichu pi chu," replied Pichu.  
  
"Oh, THAT Kero," sweatdropped Shiva.  
  
"One thing's for sure, this place is going to be kicking us out any minute now," noted Psycmon.  
  
"Then we should quit talking and keep eating!" announced Shiva.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
Not long after Shiva, Psycmon and Pichu managed to get kicked out of the Food Court that was nearly foodless, the others started filing out of their respective stores carrying bags.  
  
Kagome and Akane were carrying some bags of their own that they had managed to sort out while attempting to help Inuyasha shop. In the end, they decided that he could just stick to what he was wearing because neither of them felt like going into the dressing room to help him try stuff on. Crystal was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a silver tank-top, while carrying a bag with many duplicate outfits as well as a few different ones.  
  
Ranma and Ryoga appeared with several bags of martial arts training equipment that they planned to install in the Dojo as soon as they got back. Ranma blinked at Crystal's new outfit, "The new look definately brings out your feminine side."  
  
**Wham**  
  
"Akane what was that--" Ranma trailed off as he tasted sidewalk.  
  
Nabiki came out counting her winnings. Lip cracked his knuckles and let out a big yawn. Tyriel seemed to materialize himself from the shadows as he stepped into the sunlight.  
  
"Let's get some lunch," suggested Ryoga.  
  
"Alright!" shouted everyone else.  
  
All eyes shifted between Shiva, Psycmon and Pichu. Psycmon was the only one who could come up with a good excuse, "In-training Digimon are bottomless pits."  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
"I can't believe you actually managed to talk Crystal into getting some new clothes," Ukyo was talking to Kagome and Akane.  
  
"We didn't really TALK her into it," said Kagome.  
  
"I figured as much," said Ukyo. "She doesn't listen to anyone."  
  
Akane said, "Well, at least she isn't wearing all black anymore. It will be much easier to determine when we should talk her into going shopping the next time."  
  
"Kagome, why didn't you ever bring this okonomiyaki stuff through the well?" asked Inuyasha.  
  
"Like you ever give me enough time to bring anything for you aside from instant ramen," Kagome shrugged.  
  
"We will come back here, right?" Inuyasha sounded hopefull.  
  
Kagome couldn't help smiling, "If you want to."  
  
"Good," said Inuyasha. Kagome figured that was the closest thing to a "Thank you" she would get from him.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
"So, you all plan to leave again?" asked Akane.  
  
Crystal nodded, "Well I really want to look into my past and my past was in Feudal Japan before I somehow ended up stuck in this era."  
  
"Don't expect me to come with ya," noted Zapmon [who had evolved from Psycmon after all that food.]  
  
Crystal nodded, "I'll be fine. With so many powerful people around, I don't think I need too much protection."  
  
"After all, Warmon can't reach you in the past," added Zapmon.  
  
"I'm coming with you," said the voice of Xakis as Tyriel changed once again.  
  
"Why is that?" asked Crystal suspiciously.  
  
Xakis answered, "Because I'm the one that is going to kill you."  
  
"Can you travel through the well?" asked Inuyasha.  
  
"We'll find out, won't we?" stated Xakis before changing back into Tyriel.  
  
So Kagome, Inuyasha, Crystal and Tyriel started on their way to the Higurashi Shrine.  
  
"I wanted to go with them," Shiva pouted.  
  
"You said you'd train me and Ryoga," noted Ranma.  
  
"Then we better get started," Shiva was grinning.  
  
"Uh-oh," said Ranma and Ryoga simultaneously.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Are you all ready?" asked Inuyasha as he, Kagome, Crystal and Tyriel came to the well.  
  
"Of course," replied Crystal. The gem in the hilt of the Dragon Blade glinted faintly to make its presence known.  
  
"We're going to have a lot of explaining to do," sweatdropped Kagome.  
  
"Let's give this time-travel thing a go, shall we?" asked Tyriel.  
  
"Let's go," said Inuyasha.  
  
The four of them took turns jumping into the well. All of them, including Tyriel, vanished before they even hit the bottom.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
He We Go Again... 


	15. It's Not What You Think

Disclaimer: All Anime Characters and concepts are the property of their respective creators. The same is true of any references that might be applied in this fanfiction. This is strictly a work of fanfiction and is by no means meant to be taken literally.  
  
Spoiler Warning: This fanfiction will definitely include spoilers of events and characters that appear later on in these Anime Titles. Technically these characters have already appeared, they just haven't appeared in the English version of the series.  
  
------It's Not What You Think------  
  
After Inuyasha and Kagome went about the task of explaining their two new traveling companions, it was already starting to get dark as the sun started to drift towards the horizon. This being the case, the group hadn't gone far before deciding it was time to set up camp and get ready for the night ahead of them. This eventually resulted in Kagome, Sango, Miroku and Shippo attempting to talk around the campfire while pretending it was normal for Inuyasha and Crystal to be sitting up in trees while Tyriel was lurking in the shadows.  
  
All of this was actually quite normal, considering many of the things that were about to happen. In fact, some very interesting things were going to start happening increasingly soon.  
  
"So, what are you actually hoping to find?" asked Inuyasha.  
  
Crystal shrugged, "Some answers about my past I guess. There has to be some kind of reason behind why I seem to attract so much trouble."  
  
"And you expect to find that traveling around with us while we're looking for Shikon Fragments and Naraku?" Inuyasha couldn't figure out what inspired this method of solving problems, but he concluded that it wasn't something an ordinary person would have come up with.  
  
Crystal shrugged again, "Anything is possible."  
  
"Just don't get too comfortable," stated the voice of Xakis from the shadows bellow the tree Crystal was sitting in.  
  
"I'm not about to put my guard down," replied Crystal folding her hands behind her head as she leaned back against the trunk of the tree.  
  
"I have another question for you," said Inuyasha.  
  
"What is it?" Crystal returned her attention to Inuyasha.  
  
Inuyasha decided he would have to choose his words carefully, "Well, I've noticed that in lots of your more recent battles you've been working really hard to avoid transforming and using your special powers.. and you did get seriously hurt when you were up against the monster, Chaos Dukemon. I was just wondering why you don't just use your transformation to your advantage?"  
  
"Hm.." Crystal sighed. "I guess I'm just afraid of what might happen if the transformation suddenly took control of me and I ended up going on a rampage." She looked in the direction the sun was setting in. "I don't really want to hurt anyone and I definately don't want to see anyone get hurt.. especially if it is because of me."  
  
"Sometimes the past isn't a pleasant thing to remember," noted Inuyasha. "Are you sure you want to remember?"  
  
Crystal sighed again and closed her eyes in thought. She opened them again before responding, "I don't want to go on living with this void in my memory. I want to know who I really am and why my life is the way it is. Maybe if I understand why, I'll be able to deal with it better."  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
"What do you suppose those two are talking about?" asked Miroku.  
  
Kagome shrugged, "It could be just about anything."  
  
"At least we seem to have a quiet night ahead of us," noted Sango.  
  
"If you ignore the sulky half demons and the weirdo lurking in the shadows," Shippo looked positively bored.  
  
Kagome said, "At least all three of them seem to be on our side."  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
Something occurred to Inuyasha and he decided to find out if his suspicions were correct, "You're afraid your demon powers are going to work the same way as when you became a dragon, aren't you? That's why you don't want to transform."  
  
Crystal nodded, "I don't want to become a destructive monster again."  
  
"It's your own power, so it shouldn't be anything to worry about," said Inuyasha.  
  
"And what happens if I lose control?" asked Crystal.  
  
"You won't," replied Inuyasha.  
  
Crystal blinked, "How do you know that?"  
  
"You don't strike me as the sort that will let herself be manipulated," replied Inuyasha.  
  
"I guess so," Crystal still seemed unsure of herself. "If things get as bad as that thing with Chaos Dukemon I won't have a choice in the matter. Sooner or later I'll have to accept my powers as a part of who I am, but I don't think I'm ready for that yet."  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
The voice that belonged to Xakis sounded demanding, "Why is it that we've been with Crystal for almost two days now and she is still very much alive? I was supposed to kill her already."  
  
"You aren't going to kill my friend," came the reply in Tyriel's voice.  
  
A third voice that sounded thoroughly indifferent said, "Leave me out of this."  
  
"Narcis, surely you must have some opinion on the matter," it was Xakis again.  
  
Shippo scurried over to investigate the voices, but only saw the sleeping form of Tyriel a short distance away from the campfire, that had already died down quite a bit. Like Inuyasha and Crystal, Tyriel was located in a tree. The voices were definately coming from that direction though. Kagome, Sango and Miroku popped up behind him and he would have screamed in surprise except for the fact that Miroku covered his mouth before he could make a sound.  
  
"It would appear that he is sleeping," noted Miroku.  
  
Sango said, "But I know I heard two other voices."  
  
"And all three of the voices are coming from the same place," said Miroku. "Indeed, there is something strange about this."  
  
Shippo was waving his arms frantically, as though he had something urgent to say. Miroku let go of him and he started, "Why do I get the idea that we weren't informed of the whole story about this guy?"  
  
"Inuyasha and Crystal wouldn't say anything about it and I certainly don't get it," replied Kagome sweatdropping.  
  
The voice of Narcis came again, "The fate of the girl is not my concern."  
  
"You aren't any help," said Tyriel and Xakis.  
  
"He's talking in his sleep, in three different voices?" Shippo blinked. "He's definately a weirdo."  
  
Miroku said, "He certainly has an unusual aura."  
  
"We can ask Inuyasha and Crystal for an explanation in the morning," said Kagome.  
  
"Yeah, we should be sleeping," agreed Sango.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Sesshoumaru-sama, where are you headed at this late hour?" Jaken asked nervously, not wanting to get pounded for it.  
  
Sesshoumaru answered indifferently, "Just watch Rin."  
  
Sesshoumaru vanished into the forest. Jaken sighed, "I wonder what this is about..."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Sunlight shined over Crystal's face and she moved her arm to block the light. She was comfortable and just wanted to stay asleep, but she knew it was time to get up. From the sounds of things, most of the others were already awake. She opened her eyes and looked down from her spot in the tree.  
  
From the looks of things, Inuyasha and Tyriel were still asleep and the others were going about the task of either making or eating breakfast. Crystal prepared to jump down from her spot in the tree, but paused when she saw Tyriel fall gracelessly down from his tree with a noticeable crashing sound when he hit the ground.  
  
**Crash**  
  
Tyriel rolled over and continued to sleep. Crystal shook her head and jumped down from her tree, landing lightly on her feet when she hit the ground.  
  
"Is your friend thick or something?" asked Shippo noticing that she was up.  
  
"He just has a high tolerance for pain," replied Crystal.  
  
"And he speaks to himself in three voices while he sleeps," added Miroku.  
  
Crystal sweatdropped, "You noticed?"  
  
"It only happened last night," replied Miroku.  
  
"You and Inuyasha slept right through it," noted Sango.  
  
Crystal continued to sweatdrop, "I guess I'm a heavy sleeper when it comes to sleeping in trees."  
  
Inuyasha suddenly dropped down from his tree and darted over to Kagome.  
  
"What was that about?" asked Shippo.  
  
"That," replied Miroku pointing to the cup of instant ramen that Kagome had in her hand.  
  
"Alright, so he can sleep through voices at night, but add ramen to the picture and he wakes up instantly," Sango shook her head. "How do they do that?"  
  
Shippo shrugged, "I don't think anyone knows."  
  
Tyriel stretched, stood up and opened his eyes, "What did I miss?"  
  
"You falling out of a tree," replied Crystal.  
  
Sango said, "That reminds me, you or Inuyasha better start explaining what is up with your friend speaking in three different voices in the middle of the night."  
  
"It's a long story," Crystal sighed.  
  
Tyriel nodded, "A very long story."  
  
Inuyasha came back over, slurping up his remaining ramen in one huge gulp. He then said, "Maybe I should explain this."  
  
"Go ahead," said Kagome. "At least one of you should be able to get the message across."  
  
Inuyasha cleared his throat. The others quieted down, aside from Shippo who said, "You're actually smart enough to understand this triple voices thing?"  
  
Inuyasha clonked Shippo on the head and started speaking, "There are three separate beings living within Tyriel's body and they switch control at times. Apparently they are conscious of each other and can speak to each other at times, or fight each other, when the physical body is unconscious. In other words, when he is asleep the three separate beings tend to fight for control of the physical body."  
  
"That makes sense," said Sango.  
  
Shippo blinked, ignoring the throbbing lump on his head.  
  
Miroku nodded, "Indeed."  
  
"I couldn't have put it better myself," Crystal nodded approvingly.  
  
"Is Tyriel human?" asked Kagome.  
  
"He is at least part human, if that helps," replied Crystal.  
  
"He's a weirdo," stated Shippo.  
  
**Double Wham**  
  
Inuyasha and Tyriel blinked at each other after their fists connected with Shippo's head. Shippo ran for cover, which basically meant he was now located on Miroku's shoulder.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
The group consisting of Inuyasha, Kagome, Miroku, Sango, Shippo, Crystal and Tyriel had not been traveling long before they stopped abruptly. Inuyasha was the one that stopped, and everyone else had tried not to crash into the person in front of them. This had not gone particularly well and resulted in everyone landing in an odd heap on the ground.  
  
**Smack**  
  
"Sango, you misunderstood me," Miroku attempted to defend himself, but it was a little late.  
  
The group untangled themselves and stood up.  
  
"Why'd we stop?" asked Shippo.  
  
Inuyasha was glaring in a seemingly random direction, "...Sesshoumaru..."  
  
A few minutes passed and everyone was able to see who Inuyasha was talking about. Inuyasha had already drawn the transformed Tetsusaiga and was still glaring daggers as Sesshoumaru, "What do YOU want?!"  
  
Sesshoumaru stopped a few feet away and would have ignored Inuyasha, if he hadn't been reacting so violently. He spoke indifferently, "You can put the Tetsusaiga away. I didn't come here to kill you today."  
  
Inuyasha practically facevaulted and managed to say in a shocked voice, "What?"  
  
"I'm not here to kill you," Sesshoumaru said it again. Inuyasha did facevault this time.  
  
Inuyasha stood up and hesitantly put the Tetsusaiga away, "Why are you here then?"  
  
"I came to see our sister," replied Sesshoumaru indifferently.  
  
"He knows about Crystal?!" Shippo exclaimed.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
So Ends Another Episode... 


	16. Taken by the Enemy

Disclaimer: All Anime Characters and concepts are the property of their respective creators. The same is true of any references that might be applied in this fanfiction. This is strictly a work of fanfiction and is by no means meant to be taken literally.  
  
Spoiler Warning: This fanfiction will definitely include spoilers of events and characters that appear later on in these Anime Titles. Technically these characters have already appeared, they just haven't appeared in the English version of the series.  
  
Author's Notes: Thank you to Thorn, Cat Silver and Shiva for your continued reviewing. I would also like to give a special thanks to d.g. and crew for the amazing list of reviews I have gained knowledge of by e-mail since yesterday. The reviews are very encouraging and make me want to continue writing. I hope you all enjoy this new episode of DT!  
  
------Taken by the Enemy------  
  
"I'm not here to kill you," Sesshoumaru said it again.  
  
Inuyasha was definitely surprised, "Then why ARE you here?"  
  
"I came to see our sister," replied Sesshoumaru indifferently.  
  
"He knows about Crystal?!" Shippo exclaimed.  
  
"Why didn't you tell me she was still alive?" Sesshoumaru ignored Shippo.  
  
"How the hell did you find out anyway?!" Inuyasha practically exploded.  
  
Crystal stepped forward, "There's no reason for shouting. Can't we just talk this out and pretend to be civilized."  
  
"What if he's here to kill you?" Inuyasha gritted.  
  
Crystal shrugged, "It isn't like I don't deal with people like that already. If he's willing to talk, then we can all talk."  
  
"At least she is smart enough to see that," noted Sesshoumaru.  
  
Inuyasha took a breath and let it out. Then he said in strained voice, "Fine."  
  
"Good," said Crystal.  
  
Miroku blinked, "Did she just stop a potential battle between Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru?"  
  
"I think she did," agreed Sango.  
  
"How did she do it?" Shippo wondered aloud.  
  
"She has a gift for it," replied Tyriel.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru and Crystal were sitting around what had been the camp fire the night before. Kagome, Miroku, Sango, Shippo and Tyriel were keeping a safe distance from the trio, behind a row of bushes. They were half watching the conversation and half chattering amongst themselves.  
  
"So, you lost your memory?" asked Sesshoumaru.  
  
Crystal shook her head, "I still have my memory, it's just been blocked off by that Warmon creep I mentioned."  
  
"Until I saw one of those Digital Monsters, I thought that the modern era was a lot safer than this time, but apparently it can be just as dangerous," Inuyasha recalled the incident with Chaos Dukemon.  
  
"So the modern world is split into two separate worlds? That must be interesting," said Sesshoumaru.  
  
Crystal said, "I think there might actually be more than just the two worlds. It would seen reasonable to assume that the mythical creatures that once existed weren't wiped out, but transfered into their own separate world when humans took over."  
  
"You have quite an imagination," said Inuyasha.  
  
"Well, I'm glad to see that you are doing alright for yourself," said Sesshoumaru getting up. "I must be leaving now."  
  
Crystal nodded, "Next time I'm in this era I'll be sure to drop by for a visit."  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
Inuyasha, Kagome, Miroku, Sango, Shippo, Crystal and Tyriel were walking through the forest again.  
  
"How do you intend to find Sesshoumaru anyway?" asked Inuyasha.  
  
"Aura tracing is one of my specialties," replied Crystal.  
  
Kagome said, "Well that was pretty shocking. Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru were together for an hour without trying to kill each other."  
  
"Indeed," said Miroku.  
  
"Feh," Inuyasha snorted. "Like it was hard."  
  
"In the beginning it sounded like you were ready to scream," noted Tyriel.  
  
"Shut up!" Inuyasha grumbled.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
Several hours passed, during which time there was little excitement. The group decided that it was once again time to call it a day and set up camp. The usual suspects were in the surrounding trees, not actually helping with the task of setting up a suitable camp environment.  
  
"What exactly are you three doing that is so important you can't do something useful, like perhaps getting some firewood with Kagome and Sango?" asked Miroku from bellow one of the trees that hosted Inuyasha, Crystal and Tyriel.  
  
Crystal dropped down from her particular tree, "Don't worry about it, I'll go with them."  
  
Kagome, Sango and Crystal were not gone long when a pack of giant green ogres carrying large battle axes and clubs came stomping into the area that had been chosen for camp. Screaming came from a short distance off in the forest. Inuyasha and Tyriel dropped down from their places in the nearby trees, Inuyasha drawing the transformed Tetsusaiga in the process.  
  
"Never a moments peace," said Tyriel materializing his own sword from thin air.  
  
Shippo asked, "Does anyone else find it weird how something so big can remain unnoticed until it is practically on top of us?"  
  
"Now is not the time to worry about that... the girls are in trouble," stated Inuyasha slicing one of the ogres in half.  
  
One of the ogres got dangerously close to Tyriel and suddenly burst into flames. Standing in Tyriels place one again was none other than Xakis, "Leave these vermin to me and go after the girls."  
  
Inuyasha didn't hestitate. He grabbed Miroku and Shippo, and bolted into the forest to search for the girls.  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
"Inuyasha, there really doesn't appear to be anything in this direction," said Miroku as they came to what could only be described as a dead end. They had reached a clearing in the forest, where it seemed like there had been a struggle. If anyone had left, they didn't do so by land.  
  
Inuyasha shook his head, "Something about this doesn't seem right... it seems like the girls just disappeared."  
  
"You mean.. you can't smell them?" asked Shippo.  
  
Inuyasha let out a growl, "This must be Naraku's doing!"  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Crystal groaned as consciousness returned to her. Her head felt like she had been struck by a train and she hoped Ryoko hadn't spiked the punch again. She opened her eyes and vaguely caught sight of a scene that told her she was locked in an underground dungeon somewhere. She groaned again and got into a more comfortable sitting position. When she had confirmed that Kagome and Sango were actually awake, Crystal said, "What the heck were those things?"  
  
Sango said, "They seemed like perfectly ordinary ogres, but they certainly knew who to go after first."  
  
"Although they seem to have wanted us alive rather than dead," noted Kagome.  
  
"That's good," Crystal shook her head trying to make the dizzyness go away. "I guess we should bust out of here."  
  
A familiar voice stated, "The three of you aren't going anywhere."  
  
"Kikyo?" Kagome and Sango both sounded surprised.  
  
Kikyo seemed to manifest herself from the shadows in that strange way that only people who have been dead can master. She had a menacing smirk on her face, "It looks like you will let anyone join your little traveling party these days."  
  
"... so you're the Kikyo that pinned Inuyasha to the sacred tree fifty years ago in this time..." Crystal observed Kikyo. They hadn't actually met before, but Crystal caught on quickly. "There does seem to be a resemblence between you and Kagome, but there is definitely a difference."  
  
Kikyo gave Crystal an obvious glare of dislike, "And exactly who are you?"  
  
Crystal attempted to stand up, but for some reason her legs were no responding to the commands she was giving them with her brain. She shrugged it off and faced Kikyo with a rather indifferent expression on her face, "I am called Crystal. Now remove this binding spell before I do it myself."  
  
"As I said before, none of you are leaving," stated Kikyo coldly.  
  
Kagome asked, "What do you want with us anyway?"  
  
"Don't get me wrong," said Kikyo. "This whole thing is Naraku's elaborate trap. I was just curious about who the new girl is." With that said, Kikyo vanished from the shadows like she had come.  
  
Crystal found that she could move again, "Naraku isn't the one who put a binding spell on me."  
  
Sango asked, "How do we plan on getting out of here?"  
  
"We could always wait for Inuyasha and the others to rescue us," said Kagome.  
  
Crystal stood up and approached the dungeon door, "I've never been one to let myself be rescued. We'll just bust out of here on our own." Crystal struck the door with the index finger of her right hand and shouted, "Bakusai Tenketsu!" shattering the door on contact.  
  
[Breaking Point]  
  
Sango said, "That's definitely one way to escape."  
  
"Yes, but what about the guards?" asked Kagome.  
  
In the corridor outside of the cell were several of the large green ogres. Crystal cracked her knuckles, "I'll just have to rip them appart."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Inuyasha was darting through the forest as quickly as he could manage. Miroku and Shippo were a short distance behind, riding Kirara after Xakis and Kirara had finished off the bunch of ogres back at the camp. Xakis was keeping pace with Inuyasha, although by air he could probably move much more quickly.  
  
~Damn... where are you?~ Inuyasha though to himself.  
  
Xakis spoke to Inuyasha, "Try reaching out to Crystal. She should still be able to hear your thoughts if you let her."  
  
Inuyasha considered kicking himself in the head for several seconds for having completely forgotten about the telepathic link. He decided to give it a try {Crystal... where are you?} Inuyasha wasn't too surprised when he got a reply, although it was a bit distorted because her focus seemed to be off. He took off in a more definite direction.  
  
"Perhaps you aren't completely useless after all," said Xakis.  
  
"Who are you calling useless?!" growled Inuyasha.  
  
Kirara had caught up with them and Miroku asked, "Are we on the right trail?"  
  
Inuyasha nodded, "I'm not sure how, but even though Crystal doesn't know where she is.. it's like I can tell based on where the link is coming from."  
  
"That really is a useful power," said Shippo.  
  
Xakis stated, "Even so, we better move. The girls are still in danger."  
  
"Right!" everyone actually agreed. They were off at full speed.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
A Rescue Mission Begins... 


	17. Escaping Naraku's Trap

Disclaimer: All Anime Characters and concepts are the property of their respective creators. The same is true of any references that might be applied in this fanfiction. This is strictly a work of fanfiction and is by no means meant to be taken literally.  
  
Spoiler Warning: This fanfiction will definitely include spoilers of events and characters that appear later on in these Anime Titles. Technically these characters have already appeared, they just haven't appeared in the English version of the series.  
  
------Escaping Naraku's Trap------  
  
Naraku frowned as yet another explosion jolted his precious castle. There was a brief pause followed by another explosion. Naraku's frown deepened, "Kanna, what is that sound?"  
  
Kanna appeared, holding her mirror in viewing position, "It seems the prisoners have escaped."  
  
Naraku shook his head, "They couldn't have escaped from the dungeon..." Naraku paused as he saw the image of Crystal shattering a solid wall with one finger appeared in the frame of the mirror and heard the sound again. "I guess that explains it."  
  
Kanna vanished back to where she had appeared from. Naraku stood up, "I guess now is a good time to retreat."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Inuyasha snarled, "Naraku..."  
  
Miroku nodded, "His aura is indeed present, but he seems to be leaving this area..."  
  
Xakis said, "There is a castle at the top of that mountain. That must be where the girls are being kept."  
  
Inuyasha decided to speed up, "Let's go!"  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Kagome winced as Crystal was knocked clear into a wall of solid stone. Crystal got to her feet again and lunged at the ogre that had struck her, slicing it neatly in half with the Dragon Blade. Fortunately, the guards had been dumb enough to leave herself, Sango and Crystal with their weapons.  
  
"Crystal, are you alright?" asked Kagome.  
  
Crystal answered quickly, "I'll be fine, but we really need to bust out of this place... I don't know if I can handle fighting every single one of these guards."  
  
"Inuyasha and the others will come and save us," Kagome tried to sound convincing.  
  
Sango took out some ogres with Hiraikotsu, "And we'll be right here waiting for them."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"... what is that thing?" gulped Shippo. He pointed at the economy-sized ogre that had jumped down from the roof of the castle.  
  
Inuyasha glared at the ogre, "Nothing that can stop us."  
  
Miroku nodded, "I would assume that Naraku used a Shikon Fragment to give this beast more power. He must be trying to buy himself some time to escape from us."  
  
Xakis smirked as the sword in his hand became surrounded by flames, "This will be no problem at all."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Crystal came to a halt as she, Kagome and Sango reached a chamber at the end of one of the passages they had been following. She glared at the one who had decided to become yet another obsticle in her path.  
  
"Naraku has given me strict orders to slow down your escape," said Kagura.  
  
Crystal growled, "You'll fry in hell like the rest of them."  
  
"I think you'll find me a lot more intimidating than those nitwits," replied Kagura. She waved one of her fans and a horde of dead ogres smashed into the chamber.  
  
Sango turned to Crystal, "Be careful... Kagura can manipulate dead bodies with her wind."  
  
"Now ya tell me," Crystal remained calm. Her aura wavered as her ears became pointed and her fingernails extended into claws. "You're going to regret the day you challenge me!"  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Inuyasha swung the Tetsusaiga recklessly as always, "Kaze no Kizu!" unleashing a wave of power that was easily deflected by the ogre's massive battle axe. Inuyasha cursed as he hit the ground and turned around to go in for another attack.  
  
[Cutting Wind, Windscar]  
  
Xakis was one step ahead of him. Xakis was holding out both of his hands in a standard blast position as a shadowy orb materialized in front of them. A ring of flames erupted around the shadow, but the shadow remained completely visible. Xakis hurled the blast at the ogre's battle axe and shouted, "Shadow Fireball!" igniting the battle axe and causing it to disintegrate into a pile of smoldering ashes on the forest floor.  
  
Inuyasha grinned as he rushed at the ogre again, "Kaze no Kizu!" and unleashed another wave of power from the Tetsusaiga that ripped the ogre apart. He landed lightly and caught the Shikon Fragment as it zipped out of the destroyed body.  
  
Miroku nodded, "Now that we've dealt with that problem, we can go inside and rescue the girls."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Kagura was actually running out of dead bodies to manipulate. Crystal was doing a very thorough job of ripping the bodies to shreads with her claws and it didn't help that she was moving faster than Kagura could keep up with. Not only was this girl fast, but she seemed to know some very elaborate battle tactics.  
  
"Come on, my training sessions with Ryoga aren't this slow," Crystal stared taunting Kagura.  
  
Kagome just watched in awe, "Even Inuyasha and Kouga didn't make it look this easy."  
  
Crystal suddenly popped up behind Kagura and sent her firmly to the ground with a fierce kick to the back. She landed lightly on her feet and sheathed the Dragon Blade. She returned to her original form and looked down at Kagura, "Have you had enough or do I need to kill you to get the hell out of here."  
  
Kagura glared up at her, "We'll meet again and next time you won't have it so easy."  
  
"Yeah, I know. I get that a lot," Crystal shrugged lightly.  
  
Kagura removed a feather from her hair, it increased in size and she jumped onto it. She floated out of a hole in the ceiling that had been practically invisible before. Of course it would appear invisible in the dark of night.  
  
Sango said, "Crystal.. how did you do that?"  
  
"Do what?" asked Crystal.  
  
"Inuyasha and Kouga couldn't get that far in dealing with Kagura," answered Sango.  
  
Crystal shrugged, "All I did was jump around in the shadows and strike when I wasn't expected. It wasn't anything special."  
  
"Let's get out of here," suggested Kagome.  
  
"Not so fast," came the all-too-familiar voice of Kikyo.  
  
Crystal sighed boredly and cast a glare in Kikyo's direction, "What now?"  
  
Kikyo materialized from the shadows and returned Crystal's glare, "I had a feeling you weren't just an ordinary human. Why are you getting involved?"  
  
"I came to this era to look into my own past," Crystal frowned. "I didn't come here to play the damsel in distress by being kidnapped by some giant ogres."  
  
Kikyo seemed surprised, "Then you have no involvement in the conflict between Inuyasha and Naraku?"  
  
"I have my own enemies," Crystal returned indifferently.  
  
Kikyo vanished back into the shadows in her usual way. Kagome and Sango just watched in a combination of surprise and confusion. Crystal looked up through the hole in the roof, "It would be easier to find the guys from outside, but we have no idea what's out there."  
  
"What's our plan?" asked Sango.  
  
Crystal smirked, "If we continue strait through the castle, we will eventually get outside and I can bust some more walls in the process."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Inuyasha's group finally reached the main entrance to the castle. They all stopped abruptly as the wall beside the main doorway exploded outward.  
  
"We're here to rescue you!" exclaimed Shippo enthusiastically.  
  
Miroku blinked, "It doesn't look like anyone actually needed to be rescued."  
  
Crystal grinned, "Those morons didn't know what hit 'em."  
  
The blade of the sword in Xakis's hand glinted in the light of the rising sun, "You're about to suffer the same fate as those ogres."  
  
Crystal ducked, dodged and managed avoid every swipe that Xakis made with the sword. The others watched for a few minutes before Sango finally whacked Xakis over the head with Hiraikotsu. Xakis collapsed to the ground and turned back into Tyriel.  
  
"And that guy is your friend?" Shippo shook his head.  
  
Crystal shrugged, "It isn't his fault he has a demon in him that wants me dead."  
  
Tyriel stood up, "Sorry about that.. I guess Xakis got a little carried away with being in control."  
  
Kagome asked, "Exactly how many attacks did Crystal manage to avoid?"  
  
"At least eight hundred," answered Inuyasha.  
  
Miroku blinked, "That many?"  
  
Crystal sweatdropped, "Well I did get a little sloppy with the last one." She indicated a small tear in the fabric of the left shoulder of her tank- top.  
  
Sango asked, "What are we going to do now?"  
  
"Well, we have been up all night," said Kagome.  
  
Crystal suggested, "We could all go back to the Modern Era and rest at the Tendo Dojo."  
  
"All of us?" asked Shippo.  
  
Crystal nodded, "I have a feeling this will work perfectly."  
  
*-*-*-*  
  
**Stench**  
  
"Gah! What's that smell, it smells like Miroku's old socks!" Inuyasha woke up in one of the trees outside of the Tendo Dojo with a thoroughly disgusted look on his face.  
  
"Pardon?" Miroku gave Inuyasha a questioning look from over by the Koi pond.  
  
Crystal looked down from her spot on the roof, "Akane must be cooking again."  
  
"I hope that isn't breakfast," Tyriel poked his head out of the doorway to the Dojo.  
  
Inuyasha looked over to Tyriel, "The socks or what's in the kitchen?"  
  
"Er.. both, but at the moment I'm more concerned about what is in the kitchen," replied Tyriel carefully.  
  
A crimson and black aura materialized behind Tyriel and he was sent flying across the yard by Akane's mallet. Akane returned to the kitchen.  
  
Crystal leaned back and sprawled out on the roof, "It's good to be back in Nerima."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Meanwhile...  
  
"Airen!" Shampoo continued to chase Lip around Nerima.  
  
"Prepare to die!" Mousse also continued to chase Lip around Nerima, waving a variety of chained weapons and other random objects.  
  
Lip continued running for his life, "When I get out of this.. SHIVA, I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!"  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
This is only the beginning of the chaos... 


	18. Out on the Town

Disclaimer: All Anime Characters and concepts are the property of their respective creators. The same is true of any references that might be applied in this fanfiction. This is strictly a work of fanfiction and is by no means meant to be taken literally.  
  
Spoiler Warning: This fanfiction will definitely include spoilers of events and characters that appear later on in these Anime Titles. Technically these characters have already appeared, they just haven't appeared in the English version of the series.  
  
------Out on the Town------  
  
"Where is Crystal?!" demanded Inuyasha loud enough so that everyone inside of the Tendo House and Dojo could hear him.  
  
Miroku plugged his ears and continued reading one of the magazines he had stolen from Happosai's stash earlier in the week. When Inuyasha glared at him, he took his fingers out of his ears and briefly looked away from his reading material long enough to shrug.  
  
Kagome and Sango rushed downstairs with their weapons ready, assuming from the tone of Inuyasha's voice that they might be under attack. When they saw that there was certainly no attack in progress, both of them started up the stairs again.  
  
Ranma and Ryoga continued sparring in the backyard, totally ignoring Inuyasha in the process. As it would happen, a few seconds later both of them were hurled into the Koi pond by Inuyasha himself.  
  
Inuyasha closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. He opened his eyes and shouted angrilly, "WHY DON'T ANY OF YOU LISTEN TO ME?!?!?!"  
  
Miroku set his magazine down on the table and frowned at Inuyasha, "Have you tried looking on roof? If she isn't up there, then why would any of us know where she is?"  
  
Kagome and Sango were downstairs again.  
  
Inuyasha also frowned, "I already looked on the roof. She's not there like she usually is."  
  
Kagome added, "Shippo isn't here either."  
  
Miroku knew it was a stupid question, but he asked anway, "Didn't we tell both of them not to go off by themselves?"  
  
Shiva chose that moment to make his physical presence known inside of the Dojo, "Haven't you figured it out by now? Crystal doesn't listen to anyone."  
  
Kagome nodded, "Shippo doesn't listen very well either."  
  
Inuyasha snorted, "They're probably together, but that doesn't make it any less dangerous."  
  
Shiva shrugged, "Crystal certainly took Zapmon with her, but I'm not entirely sure about--"  
  
"PICHU!!"  
  
Shiva growled as the ineffective blast of lightning shot him into a nearby wall and commenced chasing the small electric mouse around the backyard.  
  
Sango looked around, "More bad news, Tyriel's not here either."  
  
"... We'll just have to go out and find them," stated Inuyasha firmly.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Shiva... where the hell are you?!" Lip zoomed by with an expression that almost looked like it could kill plastered on his face.  
  
"Airen!" Shampoo zoomed by chasing after Lip.  
  
"Prepare to Die!" Mousse also zoomed by chasing after Lip and Shampoo, although it was clear that he was speaking to Lip.  
  
Crystal blinked slightly, "... I wonder what that was about..."  
  
Shippo asked from his perch on her shoulder, "Do you know them?"  
  
Crystal sighed, "Sadly, yes."  
  
"Where are we going anyway?" asked Shippo.  
  
Crystal grinned, "You'll like this place. It's called an arcade, and it's full of video games."  
  
"Uh... what are video games?" asked Shippo.  
  
Crystal continued grinning, "You'll learn that soon enough."  
  
Zapmon whined, "Can we eat now?"  
  
"At the mall Zapmon... at the mall," Crystal sweatdropped.  
  
Shippo blinked, "You said we were going to the arcade."  
  
Crystal chuckled, "It's in the mall."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Grr... there are too many scents here! I can't smell Crystal or Shippo!" Inuyasha was noticeably angry.  
  
Kagome laughed nervously, "Inuyasha... people are already staring at you..."  
  
Inuyasha slammed his fist into the pavement and split it down the middle. The people that had been staring decided to get out of there as quickly as possible. Inuyasha smirked, "Is that better Kagome?"  
  
"......" Kagome just decided not to say anything.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"It could be difficult to find them," noted Miroku. "They had a really big headstart apparently."  
  
Sango nodded, "And Crystal happens to have a very good idea of how to get around this city."  
  
"There's that too," agreed Miroku.  
  
"Who's idea was it for us to split up like this?" Sango wondered outloud.  
  
Miroku supplied the answer, "Because only Kagome can keep Inuyasha in check."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Shippo's eyes sparkled with delight as they arrived at the arcade (after leaving Zapmon to do what she would to the food court.) Crystal looked around at all the machines, "I think they've even added some new games since I was last here."  
  
"So these are video games," Shippo beamed.  
  
Crystal nodded and gave Shippo a large handful of funny looking golden tokens, "Should I show you how they work?"  
  
Shippo nodded eagerly. Crystal walked over to one of the machines that was cleverly titled Mortal Kombat Trilogy and inserted the required number of tokens before pressing the start button. After watching Crystal play a few rounds, Shippo had it all figured out.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Inuyasha blinked, "Kagome... of all the places in Japan to look for Crystal and Shippo, why are we headed for the mall?"  
  
Kagome shrugged, "I have a hunch that this is where they would be."  
  
"Fair enough," replied Inuyasha.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Miroku had paused at a bookshop that was alongside the street and was staring intently at more magazines similar to the ones he had stolen from Happosai. He was just about to ask how much they would cost when he was hauled off by a rather annoyed Sango.  
  
"We are supposed to be looking for Crystal," Sango had started them off in the direction of the mall.  
  
"I know, but I just couldn't help myself," explained Miroku.  
  
"Like you were even trying to," returned Sango.  
  
Miroku attempted to sound hurt, "I really was trying..."  
  
"Forget it," Sango didn't look back to make sure he was following as she continued toward the mall.  
  
Miroku shrugged and followed a safe distance behind Sango, "... I wonder why she's so upset..."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Once again Shippo spoke from Crystal's shoulder as they exited the arcade, "Where are we going now?"  
  
"I've heard from Kagome that you really like candy," replied Crystal. "I bet you've never actually been inside a modern candy store."  
  
Zapmon stumbled over to Crystal, "You really know how to put on a good mall tour, don't ya?"  
  
"To the candy store!" exclaimed Shippo enthusiastically.  
  
Crystal smirked, "It's fun for me too." She started in the direction of the candy store.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Inuyasha was surprised to see Miroku and Sango come through the mall entrance at the same time as himself and Kagome. He was a little more concerned about the human voice that was shouting, "Ahh! Monster!" as he ran out of a store that seemed to be filled with all that candy stuff that Shippo seemed to like so much.  
  
"Uh-oh," said four voices simultaneously.  
  
Crystal stepped out of the store looking a little confused, "That makes one human that is absolutely terrified of demons."  
  
"The others are here!" exclaimed Shippo.  
  
Crystal had spotted them as well, "Hang on Shippo!" She picked up Zapmon and bolted out of the mall.  
  
"Not again," grumbled Inuyasha.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Meanwhile...  
  
Lip happened to be running passed the Tendo Dojo when he spotted Shiva (still chasing after Pichu) in the backyard, "SHIVA!!! YOU'RE DEAD!!!"  
  
Shiva looked up in surprise, "I was starting to wonder about the lack of challenges from you lately."  
  
As Shiva was tackled by Lip, who was then glomped by Shampoo while Mousse mistakenly attempted to wrap Ranma and Ryoga up in his chained weapons. Pichu thundershocked everyone into the Koi pond to resolve things.  
  
"C-c-c... CAT!!!" Ranma-chan rushed out of the pond and around the yard several times before smashing into the tree and knocking herself out.  
  
Shampoo curled up on Lip's lap and started purring. Lip didn't bother trying to get out of the pond and neither did Shiva. Mousse started pecking Lip from various angles and was eventually hurled into a nearby tree. P-chan had the sense to attempt getting inside to find some hot water.  
  
"So, how long were they chasing you?" asked Shiva.  
  
"About three weeks I think," replied Lip.  
  
"Good training?" asked Shiva.  
  
Lip suddenly remembered why he was angry with Shiva, "This is all your fault for not telling me about that damn Amazon Law!"  
  
"It still sounds like good training," said Shiva.  
  
"Maybe I'm fast enough to kill you now," returned Lip.  
  
"I can break the sound barrier," Shiva smirked.  
  
"Impressive," Lip pretended to sound impressed.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
A portal opened above the park as Crystal and Shippo thought they had escaped. Crystal trembled slightly when she recognized the figure that dropped from the portal. Zapmon growled as her eyes narrowed, "So... Chaos Dukemon has returned for round two."  
  
Shippo looked up, "Is that a demon?"  
  
"No... it's an evil digimon," answered Crystal glaring up at Chaos Dukemon.  
  
Chaos Dukemon landed lightly on the ground and pointed his lance at Crystal, "By all means you should be dead."  
  
"I get that a lot," replied Crystal looking hopefully to Zapmon.  
  
Zapmon nodded and poured the contents of a Pixy Stix into her mouth. Crystal's digivice and crest began to glow wildly as Zapmon was engulfed in silver light. Shippo watched in awe at the pretty lights that seemed to be manifesting themselves from nowhere.  
  
"Zapmon Warp Digivolve To..." Zapmon transformed into a form that resembled a Black Ex Veemon with silver and gold stripes. This form was followed by an increase in size, the conversion of her lower-right arm into a cannon, and the appearence of a metallic half-mask over the left side of her face. From there her form expanded in several directions at once and she took on a form that greatly resembled Imperialdramon Dragon Mode. Instead of the inner layer being blue, it was black with a silver and gold stripe pattern. Instead of having black armor, her armor was electric blue. Her claws shined silver and her massive wings were golden. The new formed shouted, "Ex Zapmon!"  
  
Chaos Dukemon frowned, "You were not able to reach Mega the last time we fought..." He was about to make his attempt at escaping through a new portal, but it wouldn't open. "So then... we must do battle after all." He pointed his lance at Ex Zapmon and a burst of black lightning shot from the blade, "Judecca Prison!"  
  
The cannon between Ex Zapmon's wings began to glow golden and a massive beam of golden light shot outward as Ex Zapmon shouted, "Giga Beam!" and broke Chaos Dukemon's attack with ease. Chaos Dukemon was pelted by the light attack and quickly dissolved into data.  
  
Shippo cheered, "Yay! We won!"  
  
"That was way too easy," agreed Crystal.  
  
An all-too-familiar voice shouted, "Tezawari no Hakai!" and Crystal barely dodged the negatively charged energy wave that had been launched at her by none-other than her feared enemy, Warmon.  
  
[Touch of Destruction]  
  
"Who's that?" asked Shippo.  
  
"That's Warmon," replied Crystal.  
  
"Oh, Warmon... wait, Warmon?! That monster you told us about in the Feudal Era?!" Shippo started to panic.  
  
Ex Zapmon managed to get between Crystal and Warmon and the air in front of her became thick with dark clouds. Warmon chuckled and awaited the coming attack from Ex Zapmon. Powerful bolts of lightning struck Warmon from the dark clouds as Ex Zapmon shouted her attack, "Thunder Storm!"  
  
Warmon merely held up his hand and stated, "Kabe no Kurayami!" forming a barrier of dark energy around himself that blocked out the feeble attack from Ex Zapmon. He then formed a data distortion field and hurled it through his barrier at Ex Zapmon, "Sakujo Shougaibutsu!"  
  
[Wall of Darkness | Obsticle Delete]  
  
Ex Zapmon was struck head on and was forced to regress into Psycmon, flying helplessly back into Crystal's arms. Crystal frowned nervously now that her only line of defensive was unconscious and there wasn't much she, herself could do against the evil digimon that had risen from the Dark Net Ocean.  
  
Warmon phased out of his barrier and started moving toward Crystal. He was forced back as his arm was nearly sliced off by the flaming sword of Xakis, "I'm the only one that is going to kill Crystal!"  
  
Crystal frowned, "I'm not sure whether to be thankful or to start running..."  
  
"How about both?" suggested Shippo.  
  
Crystal nodded and bolted in the direction of the Tendo Dojo.  
  
A few seconds into the battle between Warmon and Xakis, Inuyasha and company came onto the scene with their weapons ready. Xakis threw Warmon back with a powerful fireblade from his sword and Inuyasha smirked as he took the opportunity to slash the Tetsusaiga at Warmon, "Kaze no Kizu!"  
  
[Cutting Wind, Windscar]  
  
Warmon's cloak was shreaded slightly by the onslaught of attacks, but he took the opportunity to open a portal and retreat. Inuyasha scowled, "That monster is almost exactly like Naraku!"  
  
"It seems to make sense that you and Crystal would have similar enemies," noted Miroku.  
  
Sango spoke up, "Uh... guys, Xakis just took off after Crystal..."  
  
"What?!" Inuyasha took off, still clenching the Tetsusaiga in his hand.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Some odd hours later, the group was assembled in the backyard of the Tendo Dojo. This group consisted of Ranma, Ryoga, Inuyasha, Kagome, Miroku, Sango, Shippo, Crystal, Shiva, Lip, Tyriel, Psycmon and Pichu.  
  
Nabiki explained the situation to everyone, "Since the obvious threat of property damage is increasingly likely with all of you staying here in Nerima, it has been decided that all of you are going to be staying at the Masaki house until such time that this business with Warmon is resolved. Any questions?"  
  
"Can we eat now?" asked Shiva.  
  
Everyone sweatdropped.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
You Can Bet That Tenchi Didn't Agree to This... 


	19. The Welcome Party

Disclaimer: All Anime Characters and concepts are the property of their respective creators. The same is true of any references that might be applied in this fanfiction. This is strictly a work of fanfiction and is by no means meant to be taken literally.  
  
Spoiler Warning: This fanfiction will definitely include spoilers of events and characters that appear later on in these Anime Titles. Technically these characters have already appeared, they just haven't appeared in the English version of the series.  
  
------The Welcome Party------  
  
It was a quiet morning in the vicinity of the Masaki Shrine. Tenchi was almost hopeful that it would actually be a reasonably normal day, or as normal as it gets with so many not-so-human girls living in the same house. At least it would be a without frantic space battles with the balance of the universe hung delicately in the balance. And perhaps evil genius inventions gone wrong could take a break for a day. He didn't anticipate more visitors.  
  
"What do you mean that lot of you are staying here for an indefinite amount of time?!" Tenchi had planted himself several inches into the ground after discovering the arrival of the group from Nerima.  
  
Washu suddenly materialized from the door beneath the staircase and looked over the unusually assembled group, "Well if it isn't the ones that Nabiki called me about."  
  
Ranma, Ryoga, Inuyasha, Kagome, Miroku, Sango, Shippo, Crystal, Shiva, Lip, Tyriel Psycmon and Pichu exchanged glances before nodding. Washu waved everyone inside, completely ignoring Tenchi in the process. She indicated two doorways down the hallway, which it could be noted were not there a few minutes earlier.  
  
"The girls can stay in one room and the boys can stay in the others. It doesn't actually matter, cause all they'll be used for is sleeping."  
  
With that out of the way, Washu returned to her lab leaving Tenchi to perform the role of host. Tenchi began to protest hopelessly, "Now wait just a second, I didn't agree to this!"  
  
"So, you're just going to send them off into the woods?" asked Ryoko.  
  
Tenchi sighed, "No, but..."  
  
"Then it's settled," Ryoko grinned dangerously, "let's throw a welcome party!"  
  
Tenchi started to protest further, but went unnoticed when Sasami agreed to make party food. After that no one had any intention of listening to him and so Tenchi just gave up and went out to work the fields. He really wanted nothing to do with the party planning.  
  
*_*_*_*  
  
Within less than an hour it seemed like the usual daily processes of Nerima District Tokyo had suddenly been relocated to Okayama. Crystal was on the roof looking at the clouds while cleaning the Dragon Blade. Inuyasha was in a nearby tree eating some instant cup ramen he had gotten from Sasami. Kagome and Sango were chatting in the girls' room. Ranma and Ryoga were sparring with each other at the same time that Shiva and Lip were sparring elsewhere. Miroku was reading in Tenchi's fathers' library. Shippo was playing Sasami's video games. Psycmon and Pichu were with Ryo-Ohki sampling the party food. Tyriel just sort of faded into the shadows and stayed there.  
  
*_*_*_*  
  
As the sun began to set beyond the mountains in the distance, the party began. Against his earlier wishes, Tenchi got dragged into it with the rest of them and was actually managing to have a good time. At present everyone had taken to Karaoke. Shiva was on stage performing an interesting rendition of Anytime Moumantai, the best partner theme for Terriermon.  
  
I'll fly in the blue sky, moumantai  
  
If I get tired, I'll drink some tasty juice  
  
Softly, softly... A~ah, it's fun  
  
Let's play together forever  
  
Kagome was making an effort to interest Inuyasha in some new kinds of food besides what he had tried in Nerima. Ranma and Ryoga were still training each other with the standard food snatching training around the buffet table. Lip had disappeared hours ago, no longer wanting to be part of this seemingly crazy group of idiots as he thought of them. Ryoko and Ayeka were fighting each other while attempting to seduce Tenchi [Ryoko] or simply get his attention [Ayeka].  
  
Okay, all right, moumantai  
  
It's not a dream that I'm by your side  
  
Our password is  
  
"Anytime Moumantai"  
  
Only with that my spirit multiplies a hundred times  
  
Miroku made the mistake of trying to feel up Ryoko and Ayeka, thus making himself the target of their anger that was usually only directed at each other. Miroku ran out the front door pursued by the two enraged not-so- human ladies. Sango sighed and picked up Hiraikotsu before joining Ryoko and Ayeka in the chase.  
  
On a day that rain fulls, moumantai  
  
I'll eat snack and get full  
  
Slowly, slowly... A~ah, I wanna sleep  
  
I'll take a little afternoon nap  
  
Shippo had heard that Sasami was supposed to be some kind of video game expert and challenged her to a round of Mortal Kombat to see just how good she was. He himself wasn't boasting the best skills, but he had become entranced by the games since his outing with Crystal to the arcade.  
  
Okay, all right, moumantai  
  
But I'll be right by your right  
  
Even if I sleep, I can say it  
  
"Anytime Moumantai"  
  
Any problem is terrible, right?  
  
Zapmon [having evolved from Psycmon] made a smart comment about how Shiva had no chance of performing the song as well as Terriermon. This ended Shiva's performance as he chased the small dragon out the front door for insulting his singing. Mostly, he had just gotten bored because no one seemed to be paying any attention to the stage anymore.  
  
To the surprise of a great portion of the audience, Crystal was the next one to take the stage. Ranma made a mental note that if Nabiki had been present, which she wasn't, there probably would have been a series of bets made about the likelihood of Crystal's remaining on stage to perform Simple and Clean from Kingdom Hearts.  
  
You're giving me too many things  
  
Lately you're all I need  
  
You smiled at me and said,  
  
Don't get me wrong I love you  
  
But does that mean I have to meet you father?  
  
When we are older you'll understand  
  
What I meant when I said "No,  
  
I don't think life is quite that simple"  
  
Crystal gathered the attention of anyone who happened to be involved in the party, catching just about everyone by surprise. Zapmon returned for a slice of pizza followed by Shiva who was still chasing her. At this time Pichu diverted Shiva' attention by attacking him with a Thundershock and scurrying outside with what appeared to be some leftover take-out from Ucchan's Okonomiyaki. Shiva took the bait and started after Pichu.  
  
When you walk away  
  
You don't hear me say please  
  
Oh baby, don't go  
  
Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight  
  
It's hard to let it go  
  
"She's good," said Miroku.  
  
Inuyasha gave him a knowing look, "You're only saying that because she's a girl."  
  
"That doesn't make the fact any less true," noted Miroku.  
  
Inuyasha sweatdropped, having lost out to confusion. He wasn't sure which state Miroku was agreeing with and so decided to drop the subject altogether.  
  
Hold me  
  
Whatever lies beyond this morning  
  
Is a little later on  
  
Regardless of warnings the future doesn't scare me at all  
  
Nothing's like before  
  
Shiva burst through the door again, still chasing after a specific little electric mouse only to be crushed by a randomly falling phonebook while Crystal continued to sing as though she hadn't even noticed. Pichu joined Zapmon in eating pizza while Shiva rubbed his head and glared at Crystal indignantly.  
  
Hold me  
  
Whatever lies beyond this morning  
  
Is a little later on  
  
Regardless of warnings the future doesn't scare me at all  
  
Nothing's like before  
  
Crystal finished off the song and the assembled guests gave her a brief applause before a familiar crashing sound started to echoe above the Masaki House. That was right before the ceiling and everything above it caved in along with Mihoshi's shuttle.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The next morning the group that had assembled at the Masaki House began the long, difficult process of house repair due to the damage from Mihoshi's crash. Mihoshi had spent the last ten minutes apoligizing to everyone she recognized and getting acquainted with everyone else before also appoligizing to them.  
  
Tenchi sighed, "There goes any chance for a semi-normal life on Earth for as long as they all intend to stay here."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The Excitement Continues... 


	20. The Dragon's Shadow

Disclaimer: All Anime characters are the property of their respective creators, not me. This also applies for the original characters that are based on my friends who wanted to be in this story.  
  
Author's Note: Clearly it has been a while since I've updated, but I needed a little break so I could find my inspiration again. In these months my writing style has changed considerably, but I have no intention of re- writing what I already have... it will simply change from this point on. Thanks for your support and enjoy the Fanfic!  
  
WARNING! There Be Spoilers Ahead!

* * *

The Dragon's Shadow  
  
A month passed without disturbances of any kind. For this reason most of our heroes had gotten bored with training if there wasn't going to be anything to fight against. Even if it was just the calm before the storm, there were those at the Masaki Shrine that were simply restless for battle. Among these were Inuyasha and Lip.  
  
"This Warmon is as bad as Naraku," complained Inuyasha.  
  
Miroku sighed, "It is indeed troublesome dealing with an enemy that you can only fight when they happen to reveal themselves to you, but the fact is that we have no choice so we have to wait."  
  
"You seem awfully calm about all this," Inuyasha gave Miroku a skeptical look.  
  
Miroku shrugged, "At least we have a chance to prepare for the next attack while we wait."  
  
------------------------  
  
Lip on the other hand was simply bored because he hadn't had a chance to pound Shiva. He didn't really understand why the other guy bothered training with Ranma and Ryoga, but it left him without a decent sparring partner [or punching bag as the case may be.] As a way to vent his frustration, Lip began firing off energy blasts into the sky and at the surrounding mountains.  
  
When a loud roar emanated from one such mountain, Lip decided to make himself scarce and flew off. He wasn't actually afraid of whatever had made that sound, but he felt it would be more fun to see how the rest of them would react. He made himself comfortable up in the sky, well out of attack range and just decided to observe how the rest of the day would play out.  
  
------------------------  
  
"Hn?" Crystal cracked an eye open when she heard a loud roar. She had been quite comfortable sleeping on the roof of the Masaki House, but that sound seemed to register as a good excuse to get up. She stretched absently and dropped down to the ground outside the front door.  
  
Inuyasha already had Tetsusaiga in hand and looked ready for a good fight, "Finally, some excitement around here!"  
  
"Uh... it really isn't wise to rush into battle against an unknown enemy," noted Miroku trying to dissuade the hanyou.  
  
Crystal shrugged, "What the hell? This is a good way to see how much my powers have improved." She darted off with the Dragon Blade in hand and disappeared into the nearby mountainside.  
  
"... She's even more reckless than you," Miroku watched her disappear with a sweatdrop.  
  
Inuyasha gawked, "Now wait just a second... haven't we told her not to run off by herself like this?"  
  
"Does she listen to anyone?" Tyriel manifested himself from the shadows drawing his own sword. "It just means we have to go after her." He suddenly grew a frightening pair of demonic wings as he left Xakis take over and flew off in the direction Crystal had disappeared in.  
  
Inuyasha turned to Miroku with a serious expression on his face, "Rally the others and tell them to get ready to deal with a powerful enemy... I don't know what that sound came from, but it has very powerful youki."  
  
Miroku nodded, "Right..." Inuyasha took off after Xakis determined to reach the scene first. Miroku shook his head and started searching the surrounding area for anyone who was available to help.  
  
------------------------  
  
Crystal ventured into the tunnel that Lip's blasting had formed at the base of one the surrounding mountains. After a little while she reached what appeared to be a dead end. A few minutes later, she ran out of that same tunnel screaming.  
  
------------------------  
  
Kirara glided toward the scene of the upcoming battle, bringing Sango and Miroku. Ranma and Ryoga were following from the ground. Shiva had said that it didn't seem right for him to get involved and had opted to stay behind and guard the house. Kagome was a little ways behind them with Shippo since Inuyasha had gone off ahead without much prior warning.  
  
"What do you think we're going to be up against?" asked Ranma with a little excitement in his voice. He wanted to see just how much he had improved from Shiva's special training.  
  
Ryoga shrugged, "Whatever it was, it sounded big."  
  
------------------------  
  
Inuyasha skidded to a halt in time to see Crystal running away from the nearby mountain as a burst of white flames exploded behind her. Then the mountain crumbled altogether, revealing a creature that was roughly 40 feet tall. It was dragon-like, had eight heads, six wings and looked like it had just woken up from a very long sleep.  
  
"What the hell is that?!" Inuyasha demanded of no one in particular.  
  
Xakis had stopped several paces ahead of Inuyasha, "If I knew that, I might actually consider attacking it."  
  
Inuyasha shook off his confusion and held out the Tetsusaiga, "I have my own method of dealing with enemies... namely attack first and wait for explanations later!" He swung the Tetsusaiga and released a lot of power in the general direction of the eight-headed monster, "Kaze no Kizu!"  
  
------------------------  
  
Miroku's eyes widened at the sight of the creature that Inuyasha was attempting to attack, "That thing has eight heads, appears to be 40 feet tall and breathes white fire... and we're expected to fight that thing?!"  
  
"What else would you have us do with it?" called Ranma from the ground.  
  
Ryoga sweatdropped, "Ranma, he has a point... we don't actually know how to fight something like that."  
  
Sango added, "Whatever it is... Inuyasha's Kaze no Kizu had absolutely no effect."  
  
Indeed, the energy had fizzled out upon contact with the huge creature's scales. They all watched as Inuyasha tried again and the same thing happened.  
  
"Alright, so maybe this isn't going to be as easy as I thought," admitted Ranma.  
  
"You have a talent for understatement," muttered Ryoga.  
  
------------------------  
  
Crystal skidded to a halt having reached the conclusion that no amount of running was going to get her away from the giant creature that was pursuing her. It seemed somehow familiar, but she wasn't about to dwell on that fact with an eight-headed creature several paces behind her capable of burning her to a crisp if she didn't watch her own back. Even so, she had a sword and it was about time she used it.  
  
She grinned dangerously as her aura flared up around her and then transmitted the necessary power to her weapon of choice. The form of the usual serpentine dragon formed around the Dragon Blade before she thrust her arm forward, "Gozen Reiji Ryuurensha!" The blue, serpentine dragon took shape in the air above her, with electricity crackling around it.  
  
This seemed to surprise the eight-headed monster because it had stopped its pursuit and was staring intently at this mysterious force floating in the sky. The dragon that Crystal had manifested from her own energy opened its mouth and unleashed a massive blast on the eight-headed beast. This blast seemed to vaporize one of the creature's heads, but the victory was short- lived as three new heads sprouted in place of the one that had been destroyed.  
  
"Oh hell, a hydra!" Crystal took several steps back while the dragon she had summoned continued to hold off the hydra. Somehow this resulted in her ending up in the same section of the woods as Inuyasha and Xakis.  
  
Inuyasha was getting ready to use the Bakuryuuha, "I don't care what it is... I'm going to destroy the whole thing at once..."  
  
"That might work," said Crystal before Inuyasha had actually realized she was there. "It's a hydra, so if you mess up and only damage the heads... that means we'll have more mouths targeting us with fire."  
  
Inuyasha smirked, "Don't worry. I intend to finish this with one attack."  
  
------------------------  
  
"Now is a good time for us to stop our advance," said Miroku catching on to what Inuyasha was planning to do. "If we get much closer, we might get swept up in the attack with that much power involved."  
  
Ranma shuddered, "That doesn't sound like much fun."  
  
"Still want to try to fight that thing?" asked Ryoga.  
  
"Not if I don't have to," replied Ranma sheepishly.  
  
------------------------  
  
The hydra directed all heads toward where Crystal had run off to, apparently convinced she was the that had woken it up. Crystal's dragon had expended its energy and had disappeared, but the way the hydra was attacking was perfect for Inuyasha. All ten heads unleashed blasts of white fire in that general direction.  
  
Inuyasha swung the Tetsusaiga for all he was worth, "Bakuryuuha!" The hydra's attack got swept up in the twisters released by the Tetsusaiga and the hydra was apparently ripped to shreds by its own attack.  
  
------------------------  
  
After Crystal was scolded for running off by herself things returned to more or less normal. Well, that is to say it was about as normal as it could be with the wrecking crew of Nerima District Tokyo living in the Masaki House along with Inuyasha and company. At least it was quiet and nothing was exploding.  
  
Shiva joined Lip in the sky, "If you don't tell them what you did, I'll expose you anyway, so they will find out about that stunt either way."  
  
"So what, it was getting boring," replied Lip.  
  
Shiva shrugged, "If you're really that desperate to spar with me, I'll be happy to beat you again."  
  
------------------------  
  
Crystal was on the roof again, rather deep in thought. Something about that hydra had been alarmingly familiar and then it hit her. She sat up with a slightly alarmed expression on her face, "Was that Ryuukage?!"  
  
"What's a Ryuukage?" asked Inuyasha from a nearby tree.  
  
Crystal closed her eyes for a moment before responding, "Well, I had an encounter with that creature roughly eleven years ago... somehow before and after I was transported to this time... I know that before that encounter I certainly hadn't been in this era, but I don't remember how exactly I got transported into the future."  
  
"So, it had something to do with that monster?" asked Inuyasha.  
  
Crystal sighed, "If I'm right, it might have."  
  
------------------------  
  
"Oh look, Shiva and Lip are fighting again," commented Ranma.  
  
Ryoga shrugged, "Like that's supposed to be surprising."  
  
"I wonder who's going to win this time," said Ranma.  
  
"I don't really care," replied Ryoga.  
  
------------------------  
  
Then night fell over the Masaki House and all was quiet. Then there was a loud rumbling from the mountain that had collapsed when Ryuukage had emerged.  
  
To Be Continued... 


	21. The Final Battle

Disclaimer: All Anime characters are the property of their respective creators, not me. This also applies for the original characters that are based on my friends who wanted to be in this story.  
  
WARNING! There Be Spoilers Ahead!

* * *

The Final Battle  
  
The day after the incident with Ryuukage, Crystal had already resolved to make her final stand against the one called Warmon. She was sick and tired of constantly needing to be protected in the eyes of everyone around her. The only way that way was going to change would be if she defeated her enemy and entered the next chapter of her life. She knew it wasn't going to be an easy task, but she felt like she was ready for it.  
  
Those who were normally in Nerima returned to their respective lives. Those who were supposed to be dealing with Naraku in Feudal Japan also returned to their usual daily lives searching for the fragments of the Shikon no Tama. The Masaki house was restored to its usual state of being filled with a number of girls who for one reason or another seemed to in love with Tenchi.  
  
Crystal, Shiva, Lip and Tyriel along with Zapmon and Pichu returned to California. Crystal would finish things and then she would return home as though none of it had happened. That was the easiest way for her to deal with things after how complicated her life had become. She wasn't sure exactly how things would work out after Warmon was defeated, but she figured it would be better than what had happened while Warmon was still targeting her.  
  
------------------------  
  
After a great deal of searching the Digital World for Warmon's whereabouts, Crystal learned that he was actually centered in the place known as the Dark Net Ocean. After a little more searching about for information, she finally found a gate to the Dark Net Ocean near the ruins of what had once been the infamous and terrible, Spiral Mountain. Having finally developed the means to corner the one called Warmon, Crystal felt that she was ready to end the battle that had gone on since she had first appeared in her present world.  
  
"Zapmon Warp Digivolve To..." there was a bright flash of light as Zapmon became Nova Zapdramon, "Nova Zapdramon!"  
  
With nowhere else to escape to having been found in what he had used as his ultimate hiding place, Warmon was defeated in a matter of minutes. This event seemed to trigger something as time seemed to flow backwards eleven years before flowing normally again. The exception was that Crystal no longer existed in the present world and neither did Warmon. Without a partner it seemed as though even Zapmon's existence had been a joke of misplaced time. Pichu also ceased existing in this now purified timeline.  
  
------------------------  
  
Crystal cracked her eyes open and sat up on the treebranch she had been sleeping on. She stretched her arms over her head revealing that each of her fingers was tipped with a deadly looking claw and that her ears had been replaced with fuzzy dog-like ones, making her really look like she was a hanyou. She blinked looking around at her surroundings and momentarilly wondered where she was.  
  
That had certainly been one of her weirder dreams. It almost felt like all of that stuff had really happened to her, but that was impossible because there certainly wasn't anything called the Digital World where she was from. She decided she'd keep it to herself because she really didn't feel like worrying her older brother.  
  
"I don't really know what that was all about, but I'd better make myself scare before Xakis comes back to this part of the forest for round two," with that she took off, darting across the treetops.  
  
------------------------  
  
It was an ordinary day in Nerima District Tokyo as Shiva taught his Physics class. Something seemed different, but no matter how much he tried to search his memory he couldn't seem to register what was missing. He was relatively certain what was missing was a person, but he couldn't remember who that person was. At any rate, he was supposed to be teaching a physics class.  
  
------------------------  
  
Lip continued to train for the day that he would finally best Shiva in combat. Like everyone else, he didn't appear to notice that certain events in the timeline had been altered and certain people had been removed. All he cared about was beating Shiva and that was what he planned to do.  
  
------------------------  
  
It had been a while since Crystal had actually seen either of her brothers, but she wasn't worried. They could handle themselves long before she had even finished training with Razuko in the Dragon Valley. A familiar scent attempted to sneak up behind her with a sword to her neck, but she ducked out of the way and drew her own sword.  
  
"It's nice to see you again too Xakis," she matched his next strikes move for move.  
  
"You've certainly improved, but I'll still be the one to kill you," replied Xakis coldly.  
  
Crystal shrugged, "I don't really have the time to play with you today. It's already taken me three days simply to leave the Dragon Valley. There are some people who have been waiting for me to complete my training and I'd rather not be any later than I already am."  
  
Xakis paused for a moment and suddenly became Tyriel, "I suppose that grudge will have to wait a little longer then."  
  
"I was hoping you would agree with me," replied Crystal as the two of them continued through the forest.  
  
------------------------  
  
The End 


End file.
